
■ I 




ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



> 



ANIMAL SECRETS 
TOLD 

A BOOK OF "WHYS" 

BY 

HARRY CHASE BREARLEY 



With twelve full-page illustrations from 
photographs oy 

ELWIN R. SANBORN 

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER 
XEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

AND SEVENTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 
DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR 




NEW YORK 
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



Copyright, 1911, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 



All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign 
languages, including the Scandinavian 



August, 1911. 

— J 

v 



©CI.A2D5234 



PEEFACE 

This is not a work of science save in a broad 
interpretation of that term. It is believed that 
it will not be found to contain inaccuracies of 
statement, but any one who looks to the follow- 
ing pages for comprehensive treatment or even 
scientific arrangement will look in vain. Fur- 
thermore he will entirely misapprehend their 
purpose which is as far as possible from the 
text-book idea. 

"Animal Secrets Told" is intended much less 
as a means for conveying information, than for 
suggesting, and if possible stimulating the use 
by the reader of those original powers of ob- 
servation and deduction by which he may gain 
knowledge at first hand. 

These powers are natural and active in the 
mind of the child. He is surrounded by a world 
of crowded wonders which must at first pro- 
duce the sense of confusion, but the innate order- 
liness of his mental action soon manifests itself 
in his commencing to ask "Why?" In other 
words he perceives that this is a world of Eea- 
son — that there is Law behind these phenomena 
— and it becomes at once a keen, intellectual 
pleasure to find these reasons, and then by ap- 



vi PREFACE 

plying straight-forward childish logic to uncover 
the law. 

No parent need be told how active is this 
phase of childhood, nor how the rapid fire of 
"Whys" from little lips is accompanied by the 
rapid expansion of the little mind. But the 
grown person is apt to become mentally lazy 
and to wish to receive his knowledge in predi- 
gested form, whereby it happens that the fas- 
cinating glamour of those early "golden days" 
passes swiftly away. 

One's arm will shrivel if he never use it, one's 
teeth will decay if he neglect to chew. One's 
eye was intended for seeing not for looking, but 
steadily neglected for years in its higher func- 
tion it becomes at last a mere dull looker upon 
a leaden-colored world, where the truer-visioned 
child finds light, color and enchantment. 

As a matter of fact the world is as fascina- 
ting a place as ever. It has not changed its 
capacity during the few years since childhood. 
The dreary, unimportant phenomena which 
seem to fall into a heavy-footed procession of 
endless repetition, are in reality dancing forth 
alive with interest and almost bursting with sig- 
nificance as the seeing eye would at once per- 
ceive. 

The many admirers of Conan Doyle's great 
detective will remember how Sherlock Holmes 
was one day found, by Dr. Watson, inspecting 



PREFACE vii 

"a very seedy and disreputable hard felt hat, 
ranch the worse for wear and cracked in several 
places. " Invited to examine it for himself the 
narrator continues: "I took the battered ob- 
ject in my hands and turned it over rather 
ruefully. It was a very ordinary black felt hat 
of the usual round shape, hard, and much the 
worse for wear. The lining had been of red 
silk, but was a good deal discolored. There 
was no maker's name; but, as Holmes had re- 
marked, the initials 'H. B.' were scrawled upon 
one side. It was pierced in the brim for a hat- 
securer but the elastic was missing. For the 
rest, it was cracked, exceedingly dusty and 
spotted in several places, although there seemed 
to have been some attempt to hide the discol- 
ored patches by smearing them with ink. 

" 'I can see nothing,' said I, handing it back 
to my friend. 

" 'On the contrary, TVatson, you can see 
everything. You fail, however, to reason from 
what you see. You are timid in drawing your 
inferences.' 

" 'Then pray tell me what it is that you can 
infer from this hat?' 

"He picked it up and gazed at it in the pecu- 
liar introspective fashion which was character- 
istic of him. 'It is perhaps less suggestive 
than it might have been,' he remarked, 'and 
yet there are a few inferences which are verv dis- 



viii PREFACE 

tinct, and a few others which represent at least 
a strong balance of probability. That the man 
was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon 
the face of it, and also that he was fairly well 
to do within the last three years, although he 
has now fallen upon evil days. He had fore- 
sight, but has less now than formerly, pointing 
to a moral retrogression, which, when taken 
with the decline of his fortunes seems to indicate 
some evil influence, probably drink, at work 
upon him. This may account also for the ob- 
vious fact, that his wife has ceased to love him 
. . . He has, however, retained some degree 
of self-respect. . . . He is a man who leads 
a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training 
entirely, is middle-aged, has grizzled hair which 
he has had cut within the last few days and 
which he anoints with lime-cream. These are 
the more patent facts which are to be deduced 
from the hat, also by the way, that it is extremely 
improbable that he has gas laid on in his 
house.' " 

The mystified Dr. Watson, as will be remem- 
bered, asked how it was possible for his friend 
to come to any such conclusions. To quote the 
narrator a little farther: 

" '. . . I must confess that I am unable 
to follow you. For example how did you deduce 
that this man was intellectual !' 

"For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon 



PREFACE ix 

his head. It came right over the forehead and 
settled upon the bridge of his nose. ' It is a 
question of cubic capacity,' said he: 'A man 
with so large a brain must have something in it.' 

" 'The decline in his fortunes then?' 

" 'This hat is three years old. Those flat 
brims curled at the edge came in then. It is a 
hat of the very best quality. Look at the band 
of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this 
man could afford to buy so expensive a hat 
three years ago, and has had no hat since, then 
he has assuredly gone down in the world.' 

" 'TTell that is clear enough, certainly. But 
how about the foresight, and the moral retro- 
gression?' 

1 ' Sherlock Holmes laughed. ' Here is the fore- 
sight,' said he, putting his finger upon the little 
disc and loop of the hat-securer. 'They are 
never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one 
it is a sign of a certain amount of foresight, 
since he went out of his way to take this pre- 
caution against the wind. But since we see 
that he has broken the elastic and has not trou- 
bled to replace it, it is obvious that he has less 
foresight now than formerly, which is a distinct 
proof of a weakening nature. On the other hand, 
he has endeavored to conceal some of these 
stains upon the felt by daubing them with ink, 
which is a sign that he has not entirely lost his 
self-respect.' " 



X PREFACE 

The other points of the summary were the 
result of deduction quite as plausible and Wat- 
son was forced to realize the truth of his friend's 
charge: "You can see everything. You fail, 
however, to reason from what you see." 1 

All may not become like Sherlock Holmes in de- 
gree, but the same powers of observation and 
deduction are universally present in some de- 
gree, and also far too widely neglected. 

There has been happily of late years a strong 
tendency toward a closer understanding of Na- 
ture's phenomena, particularly of Plant and Ani- 
mal Life, which has generally taken the form of 
reading books upon these subjects and attempt- 
ing to find illustrative instances in Nature. 
This is so excellent that nothing in these pages 
must be understood as implying the slightest 
criticism of such methods. The output of popu- 
lar Nature books has included many of remark- 
ably high order, and their reading is broaden- 
ing and uplifting. "Animal Secrets Told" 
merely purposes to suggest that each observer 
make his own some measure of the principles 
which have led to the accumulation of the knowl- 
edge in the books. It has all been derived from 
Nature in the first instance through the medium 
of human eye and brain, and similar eyes and 
brains are possessed by multitudes who feel a 

i From "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." Copyright, 1892, 
by Harper & Brothers. 



PREFACE xi 

strange timidity about using them in their 
natural functions — in other words in seeing 
and asking "Why?" 

The writer has on various occasions taken 
children to the Zoological Park or Museum of 
Natural History with this thought in mind, and 
the delighted avidity with which they have seized 
upon the idea of working out their own reasons 
by analysis and deduction gave it the elements 
of a game. Grown people as well have come 
easily under the spell of doing what so many 
adults have hardly grasped as possible to them, 
viz.: learning things for themselves instead of 
waiting to be told. 

The great Animal World offers exceptional 
opportunities of this sort as the following pages 
may suggest. In presenting them the writer 
wishes to add several earnest qualifications. It 
must not be thought that there is the slightest 
disposition to ignore the painstaking thorough- 
ness of method by which scientists have delved 
so deeply into the secrets of Nature. On the 
contrary every exercise of mind however humble 
along similar lines should but deepen the re- 
spect of the amateur for the specialist by estab- 
lishing the bond of sympathy. 

It must not be thought for a moment that 
difficulties are to be minimized and a premium 
placed upon "cock-sureness." Indeed the ob- 
server will come upon many questions which will 



xii PREFACE 

not respond to the first application of bis 
" Why?" nor to the second, nor the third. In 
this respect he is also like the trained Naturalist 
far, far beyond him on the road but also winning 
slowly Nature's reasons and also still confronted 
by the great mass of the thns-far unexplained. 
He will realize, however, as does the other, that 
there are reasons, and in this search will come 
ever into closer harmony with that vast orderli- 
ness of Nature which transforms and hallows 
it to the student. 

No apology will be made for the unscientific 
irregularity of the following presentation. A 
study of systematic zoology is heartily recom- 
mended to every reader, but a classification which 
requires expert knowledge of comparative anat- 
omy, with a technical study of bones, teeth and 
organs is apart from the purpose of this little 
work. It has been sought instead to start from 
the standpoint of the absolutely untrained 
reader, who forms, and who will continue to 
form the great bulk of the total public, and then 
without the use of microscope or scalpel to sug- 
gest such simple and obvious reasoning as will 
come within his powers. 

Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made of 
the courtesy of the New York Zoological Society 
in permitting the taking of the twelve unusually 
fine full page photographs reproduced in the fol- 
lowing pages. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter Page 

I Eyes 1 

II Xoses ,22 

III Ears 51 

IV Mouths ,67 

V Tongues 92 

VI Teeth 108 

VII Bills 139 

VIII Eeet 163 

IX Tails 192 

X Coverings 215 

XI Protection 248 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Topsy-Turvy Sloth Frontispiece 

Facing Page 

The Rattlesnake's Glittering Eye 14 

The Elephant's Versatile Trunk 40 

The Rabbit's Adjustable Ears 54 

The Cavernous Mouth of the Hippopotamus 78 

The Giraffe's Prehensile Tongue 96 

The Walrus' Formidable Tusks '. .118 

The "Scoop-Net" Bill of the Pelican 148 

The Running Toes of the Ostrich 188 

The Kangaroo's Supporting Tail 202 

The Porcupine's Bristling Coat 224 

The Jungle Marking of the Tiger 250 

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT 

Page 

The Contracted Pupils of the Cat 3 

The Front Eyes of the Owl 6 

The Eagle's Downward Glance 7 

The Elevated Eye of the Frog 9 

Lidless Eye of the Fish 11 

The Snail Raising its Eyes 16 

The Long Human Eve 17 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

The Front Nostrils of the Wolf 24 

The Doe's Side Nostrils 26 

The Horse's Flexible Nostrils 31 

The Slit-Like Nostrils of the Camel 32 

The Probing Nose of the Great Ant-Eater 38 

The Browsing Muzzle of the Moose 39 

The Down-turned Human Nostrils 47 

Bloodhound Puppy Showing Great Length of Ear-Flaps . 56 

The Ear Spread of an African Elephant 60 

Elevated Ears, Eyes and Nostrils of Hippopotamus ... 62 

The Immovable Human Ear 64 

The Lion's Mighty Jaws 71 

The Horse's Firmly-Lipped Mouth 73 

The Jagged Grip of the Alligator's Jaws 75 

The Angler-Fish's Trap Mouth 84 

The Expressive Human Lips 88 

The Cat's Flexible Tongue 94 

Diagram (after Wood) Showing Barbed Tongue of Wood- 
pecker and Hyoid Attachment to Forehead . . 99 
Diagram of Humming-Bird's Tongue (after Robert Ridge- 
way in National Museum Report) 100 

Chameleon's Pop-Gun Tongue 103 

The Snake's Inquisitive Tongue 104 

Diagram (after Encycl. Britannica) of Molar of Ox — The 

Selenodont Type 112 

Skull of Horse 113 

The Powerful Tusks of the Wart-Hog 123 

Diagram (after Lydekker) of Section of Beaver's Skull . 127 

The Terrible Toothed Weapon of the Saw-Fish .... 132 

The Jaws of a 6-year-old Child 137 

The Beak of the Osprey 143 

The Fishing Bill of the Heron 145 









ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

The Mud-Probe of the Woodcock 151 

The Mud-Scissors of the Avocet 152 

The Flamingo's Bill 154 

The Amazing Flower-Probe of the Sword-Bill Humming 

Bird 159 

The Lion's Softly-Padded Toes 166 

The Furry Plantigrade Foot of the Polar Bear . . . .170 

The Elephant's Foot 173 

The Camel's Two-Toed, Single-Padded Foot 174 

The Cow's Divided Hoof 177 

The Eagle's Powerful Talons 184 

The Leaf-Treading Toes of the Jacana 186 

The Balancing Tail of the Squirrel . . . . . .- . 197 

The Horizontal Plane of the Whale's Tail 205 

The Formidable Weapon Tail of the Alligator .... 208 

The Action of the Pigeon's Tail in Lighting 211 

The Ornamental Tail of the Lyre Bird 213 

The Armor Skin of the Indian Rhinoceros 221 

The Armadillo's Coat of Mail 228 

The Snake's Renewable Skin 233 

The Slippery Scales of the Fish 241 

The Spotted Coat of the Fawn 252 

The Hare in His Winter Coat 254 

Eggs of the Tern Among Beach Pebbles 261 

The Walking Stick 270 

The Leaf- Winged Butterfly 272 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



CHAPTER I 



EYES 



THE "FROXT-EYES" AXD THE " SIDE-EYES " 

XE may wander through a 
Zoological garden with this 
subject of Eyes in mind and 
perhaps the very first thing 
to strike his attention will 
be the fact that many of the 
animals return his gaze 
from two eyes placed 
squarely in front like 
his own, while others 
can see him best with 
but one eye at a time, theirs being upon the sides 
of their heads. Practically all of the animals 
appear to be in one or the other of these two 
classes. He wonders Why. Then he notices 
that the Front-eyes are found in the various 
members of the Dog family, such as the fox and 
the wolf, in the lions, tigers, leopards and all 
other cats, bears and a variety of other ani- 

1 




2 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

mals; while the Side-eyes comprise a great list, 
running all the way from the towering giraffe to 
the tiny mouse, and including the Deer family, 
the Cow family, the Squirrel and Eabbit fami- 
lies and a multitude beside. It all looks acci- 
dental, for what has a giraffe in common with a 
mouse? And then perhaps he remembers some 
day having seen a cat intently watching a mouse- 
hole or a dog coursing a rabbit and realizes in 
a flash that an animal whose instinct it is to 
hunt for its food must have eyes placed for look- 
ing directly ahead, and at the same moment 
there comes the rest of the answer — the "Side- 
eyes" are the hunted creatures endowed with 
eyes which look in opposite directions to warn 
them of approaching danger. To the giraffe 
indeed, whose great size renders him particularly 
conspicuous, Nature has been especially kind in 
giving him large projecting eyes and grooving 
his skull behind them in such a way that he can 
actually catch a glimpse backward. 

What could be more simple — Front-eyes and 
Side-eyes — the Hunters and the Hunted, through 
all variations of form and size? There are, it 
is true, exceptions, some of which will be noted 
under Birds, but among Mammals this rule seems 
to be nearly a general one. 



EYES 



THE CAT S EYE 



Everyone knows the cat's eye, with its strange 
elliptical pupil, changing from a narrow vertical 
line in bright sunlight to a wide ellipse in the 
twilight. 




The Contracted Pupils of the Cat 



Probably most children have also asked the 
reason and been told that the pupil is in re- 
ality an opening which lets light into the back 
part of the eye, so that in the night time, when 
cats like best to seek their food, it must open 
widest to admit all of the faint light possible. 
Most children know something of this and yet 






4 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

probably few, even of their elders, appreciate 
the advantage of such an arrangement as fully 
as did the man who furnishes the following ex- 
perience : 

"I was being treated, " he said, "for a trouble 
in one of my eyes and had for several days to 
apply atropin to it. This atropin had the effect 
of greatly enlarging the pupil so that ordinary 
daylight became extremely painful to me and I 
was forced to keep my eye well bandaged. How- 
ever, when I stepped into an unlighted room 
after nightfall the effect was interesting. Lay- 
ing aside the bandage I found my doctored eye 
to be much more serviceable than the other one. 
Closing first one eye and then the other I would 
notice how the gloom, to my well eye, in which 
objects were barely discernible, became suddenly 
illuminated as soon as I tried its fellow pupil, 
and the furnishings of the room fairly started 
out of the darkness on all sides. I could realize 
as never before how a cat with its great pupils 
might go swiftly and surely where a man would 
only stumble and feel his way. My oculist also 
assured me that it was not uncommon for astron- 
omers to treat their eyes with atropin during a 
total eclipse of the sun in order to observe more 
clearly." 

Of course most animals have pupils which 
contract and expand to some extent, but the cat's 
advantage lies in the peculiar shape which makes 



EYES 5 

this possible to an extraordinary degree, not un- 
like the looping hack of curtains from the side 
until nearly the entire iris may be opened to 
gather in light rays. At the same time this wide 
opening would cause the animal blindness in 
sunlight did not nature provide for its auto- 
matic closing to a mere slit in the daytime. 

The fox, also, that cunning night-raider of the 
dog family, unlike the rest of the canines, has 
this same contractile pupil, and so have some 
of the night reptiles, such as the alligator. 



the owl's eye 

Here, indeed, is an example of a night-seeing 
eye which is frequently nearly blind in the day- 
time. Compared with that of the hawk or the 
eagle the owl's eye is enormous and is fitted to 
gather in many more light rays, so that daylight 
with most varieties is too dazzling for comfort. 
Therefore the owl retires into some dark retreat 
at sunrise and waits'for the shadows of the next 
night to bring it both vision and food, since it 
feeds upon mice and other small animals which 
venture out in the darkness. 

The owl is the only front-eyed bird. Remem- 
bering what has already been said this would in- 
dicate that it is a hunter. Still the owl is only 
one of many hunting birds, of which hawks and 
others have their eyes upon the sides of their 
heads. This seems a bit perplexing until we re- 



6 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

member that the owl is the only night hunter 
among birds — the insect flight of nightjars and 
their kind being hardly to be classed as hunting. 
The daytime birds of prey sight their quarry 
from a height and need to command a wide range 




The Front Eyes of the Owl 

with their vision, while the owl wings noiselessly 
through forest darkness, peering into every place 
of concealment much as might a prowling fox 
and must have eyes so placed as to accomplish 
this use. 

THE EAGLE'S EYE 

Sometimes a man is spoken of as "eagle-eyed." 
Such a man generally has a bright eye and an 






EYES 7 

overhanging brow and whether he may have 
sharp sight or not he at least appears to have. 
This over-ridging of the eye is so noticeable in 
eagles themselves that it may well halt us to ask 
"Why"? The reason is not far to seek. One 
can see at a glance that because of it the eye 
is so set that it cannot look upward readily, but 
has a much better view beneath than the eye of 




The Eagle's Downward Glaxce 

the ordinary bird, and the rest of the answer 
comes on some summer day when one is out in the 
country and sees an eagle swinging in wide lazy 
curves so far above him that he seems a mere 
speck in the sky. It looks like the purest recre- 
ation and one cannot help envying him this 
mastery of the air. But to the eagle it is a 
matter of business — he is looking for his dinner. 
From the tremendous height he can scan miles of 
the earth's surface and with his telescopic eye 



8 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

sees objects which no man could distinguish 
without a powerful glass, so that the luckless 
squirrel, or rabbit, which is to satisfy his appe- 
tite is by no means overlooked. Hence it is that 
the eagle's interest lies all beneath him and the 
eye is so set as best to serve his needs. More- 
over in scanning the distance the eye needs 
shade, and this, too, is accomplished by this same 
ridge, much as a person might hold his hand 
above his eye in looking afar. 

In the eagle, as in other birds and some four- 
footed creatures, is found that curious, translu- 
cent third lid known as the "nictitating mem- 
brane," which passes over the eyeball with a 
shutter movement and cleans its surface from 
dust or other particles, without shutting out 
vision. 

THE FKOG'S EYE 

The frog is about as unlike the eagle as one 
thing can be unlike another and the contrast is 
especially great in their eyes. Instead of over- 
ridged eyes with a keen glance downward the 
big pop-eyes of the frog start from the very top 
of his head like the turrets in an old-fashioned 
monitor. This contrast is not surprising for 
they have a very different purpose to serve. 
In addition to looking for his own dinner the frog 
is forced to beware lest he himself serve as a 
meal for some one of the many creatures which 



EYES 9 

esteem him. The danger to such a low-squat- 
ting animal is likely to come from above and 
needs to be watched for. 

There is another and important respect in 
which these elevated eyes are of great service — 
a purpose suggested by his life in the water. 
Squatting in some shallow place or hanging sus- 




The Elevated Eye of the Erog 



pended in a quiet pond with little appearing 
above the surface save two very observant eyes, 
which bear a close resemblance to water bubbles, 
he is remarkably well concealed from the casual 
observer and not easily to be surprised. 

The alertness of these eyes is well indicated 
in the words of Edwards, the Scotch naturalist, 
who describing the great noise made by frogs 



10 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

on a moonlight night, says: "Presently, when 
the whole of the vocalists had reached their high- 
est notes, they became hushed in an instant. I 
was amazed at this and began to wonder at the 
sudden termination of the concert. But, looking 
about, I observed a brown owl drop down, with 
the silence of death, onto the top of a low dyke 
close by the orchestra. " 

The unwieldy hippopotamus and the savage 
members of the crocodile and alligator tribe share 
this same peculiarity of elevated eyes, and like 
the frog enjoy submerging their bodies in the 
water while still able to keep a sharp lookout 
about them. Indeed one of the most interest- 
ing things about the comparative study of single 
features is to note how frequently animals which 
differ in almost every other respect may still 
have some feature characteristic in common, in- 
dicating one point of resemblance in their mode 
of life. 

THE FISH'S EYE 

The solemn fishes which peer at us through 
the glass fronts of their aquarium tanks, however 
dissimilar in size, form or color are pretty much 
alike in the expressionless stare of their large un- 
winking eyes. It need not occasion surprise 
that these eyes have such great pupils when 
one realizes how dim the light becomes on even 
the brightest day in penetrating the waters they 



EYES 



11 



live in. And as to expression, we are accustomed 
to speak of the eye as an "expressive feature," 
while any artist can tell us that the eye consid- 
ered by itself has very little expression. It is 
the combination of lids and brow that gives 
the human eye its expression and how should 
the fish with practically neither lid nor brow have 
an expressive eye? In truth the fish has little 




Lidless Eye of the Fish 



need of either. Our eyes being subject to injury 
from blows, scratches and even from dust must 
be carefully protected, but no dust can fly in the 
fish's world and the great cushion of water which 
surrounds it largely protects its eyes from acci- 
dents of other kinds. To give lids where lids 
are not needed would be contrary to the "Econ- 
omy of Nature" and the fish must continue to 



12 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

wear its vacant stare, no matter what rudimen- 
tary impressions may be passing through its 
stolid brain. 

One familiar group of fishes wear both of their 
eyes upon one side, but this fact is relieved of 
some of its strangeness when we learn that they 
are bottom-loving fish which habitually rest upon 
one side until the other becomes the top. Floun- 
ders, soles, halibut and other flat fish, though 
starting in life with the upright position of or- 
dinary fish, begin to lie on one side as they grow 
older, until in time they lose their power of 
swimming back-uppermost and come to live en- 
tirely upon that side on the water 's bottom. And 
herein is a fact which indicates how wonderfully 
flexible is Nature in meeting changed conditions. 
The eyes which were at first placed opposite, as 
in the ordinary fish, undergo a change — or rather 
one of them does. The eye which would other- 
wise be kept against the bottom escapes that 
difficulty by traveling slowly around the head 
until it rests beside its fellow on the top. 

In the waters of Brazil is found the " Double- 
Eye' ' a small fish with the strangest of all fish- 
eyes. Lengthwise across the center of this eye 
is a line which divides it into two sections, and 
these two sections have lenses of entirely differ- 
ent character, as in "bifocal" spectacles where 
the upper part is made for seeing at a distance 



EYES 13 

and the lower for reading. In the eye of this 
fish the upper lens is lenticular (i. e. like two 
joined watch crystals) and the other of the 
spherical type. The mystery appears to deepen 
when we learn that the lenticular lens is similar 
to that of land animals while the spherical type 
is that of fishes which must see through the 
dense medium of water; and yet herein lies the 
explanation, for these curious creatures fre- 
quently swim with just half an eye projecting 
above the surface, and this upper half eye look- 
ing through air must needs differ from that which 
stays in the water. 

Down in the black waters of Mammoth Cave, 
Kentucky, on the other hand, dwells a fish with 
no eyes whatever. In a place where not the faint- 
est ray of light is ever seen, save from human 
visitors' torches, eyes would be entirely useless 
and Nature has accordingly dispensed with them. 

THE SNAKE'S EYE 

Here is another lidless eye, and one for which 
mankind feels an almost universal abhorrence. 
These beautiful creatures — for in spite of preju- 
dice they are almost universally beautiful, with 
much richness of marking and an unapproach- 
able grace — have nevertheless a glittering, stony 
istare which brings an instant repulsion. A 
snake with eyes softened by eyelids would be 



14 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

no longer the snake of our childhood's terrors. 
Still, the snake is in no wise responsible for its 
lack of lids, and would indeed find them an em- 
barrassment when it came to shedding its skin, 
for we must not attribute this lack to the same 
cause as marks it in the fishes. A snake does not 
have its eyes protected by water, on the contrary 
it has special reason to need protection going 
as it does "upon its belly all the days of its 
life," but in this case it carries before its eye 
a clear, horny plate attached to the skin, which 
is like a window to look through. 

If one think of a diver's suit and helmet with 
wearer he will get some idea of this skin-shed- 
ding process, to be more fully discussed in an- 
other chapter, for the eye-plate goes with the 
rest of the covering. One will frequently hear 
mountain dwellers speak of the especial danger 
from rattlesnakes in the shedding season when 
they are practically blind and will strike on sus- 
picion at everything near them. This is due to 
the fact that shortly before losing the skin a 
gummy, milky secretion begins to form just un- 
der the eye-plate, in time hardening and clearing 
into a new plate like the one which is being lost. 
It renders the snake virtually blind for a short 
time, during which its instinct of self-defense 
renders it particularly savage and suspicious. 




H H £ o 

uj ,2 3 & 



eHs 



"8 © § 



EYES 15 



THE FLY'S EYE 



The baffling skill with which a fly evades a sud- 
den blow becomes less mysterious when one ex- 
amines the relatively huge "eyes" which cover 
so much of its head. If one will use a powerful 
magnifying glass he will see that the surface of 
these eyes is composed of a mosaic-like pattern 
of honeycomb effect, and, as it is generally 
known, each of the tiny sections is the lens of a 
separate eye. In other words these two large 
patches are really eye-clusters. 

In the light of what modern science has shown 
us of flies as conveyers of disease, it is undoubt- 
edly a righteous act to crush one of these little 
nuisances, if one can catch it, but think, after 
all, of this sudden destruction of a creature bear- 
ing 8,000 separate eyes pointed in 8,000 separate 
directions ! It is perhaps small wonder that it 
so frequently escapes. 

These compound eyes are true lenses as is 
shown by an interesting experiment with the mi- 
croscope, when a portion of the cornea of a fly 
i is mounted in such a way as to cover a photo- 
graphically minute picture or bit of printing. 
Looked at through the microscope this object 
may be seen refracted by each individual lens. 

Such compound eyes are very common in the 
insect world and some of them are much more 
elaborate than those of the house-fly, the dragon 



16 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

fly possessing some 13,000 in its clusters. 
Their owners cannot roll their eyes, nor readily 
turn their heads, but then how little need with 
such a battery to rely upon ! 

THE SNAIL'S EYE 

So slow that it has passed into a proverb, and 
a most persistent " house-holder " even when 
forced to move, the snail is curious in several 
respects, not the least of which is the interest- 
ing way in which it wears its eyes. These 
eyes are too simple and primitive to deserve 




The Snail Raising its Eyes 

much notice here, were they not thrust up into 
our attention by being mounted on a pair of 
stalk-like processes which it is able to push up- 
ward from its head. 

This arrangement has its advantages to the 
snail as anyone who has ever climbed a tree to 
get a better view will realize. Most animals 
have legs or wings to raise them from the ground, 



EYES 



17 



or have at least the power to raise their heads 
like caterpillars, but the humble snail can only 
elevate its eyes to get its view, and this may at 
times be most important because of the bulky 
shell which must be carried through many 
tangled obstructions. It would be hard to im- 
agine another device so effective. 



THE HUMAN EYE 



Passing over a number of animal eye-forms 
there is one which is undoubtedly more wonder- 
ful than any other in nature and that is the eye 
which reads these words. Have you ever ex- 




The Loxg Human Eye 



amined your eye with a mirror and a question 
combined? If not you will find it interesting. 
Notice how long it is in comparison with the 
rounded eye of the dog or the cat. Why? 
Roll your eyes and see. Man is front-eyed, 
for he is not onlv the most successful hunter in 



18 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

the animal kingdom but he has many higher rises 
for a focused gaze. On the other hand man's 
body is naturally defenseless compared with 
most creatures, neither swift to escape danger 
nor strong to repel it, and with no natural 
weapons worth speaking of. Consequently he 
may also be classed among the hunted animals, 
which, as already seen, are generally side-eyed. 

These long, narrow front-eyes of ours also 
command a very considerable side view, and a 
slight movement well around to one side will 
catch "the tail of the eye" in an instant. It is 
impossible to say how often lives must have been 
saved by this side-eyed action. 

Compared with man there is very little eye- 
motion among most of the animals which are 
forced instead to move their heads in looking. 
This eye-motion is so necessary in focusing, that 
is, in bringing both eyes to bear upon the same 
point whether it be near or far, and focusing 
is so useful in giving us our ideas of relief and 
perspective, that this difference alone shows 
the higher capacity of man's perception and the 
higher requirements it serves. 

For example, shut one eye and then reach out 
to touch some neighboring object. You will find 
yourself curiously unable to determine its dis- 
tance, since all vision looks flat when seen with a 
single eye. 

Another illustration is that of the difference 



EYES 19 

between an ordinary flat photograph and the 
wonderful sense of distances obtained from stere- 
oscopic views, where two slightly different 
images are blended together by the glasses. 
Man's ideas of the relations of surrounding ob- 
jects must therefore be much clearer than those 
of other creatures. 

There is a point which may be mentioned in 
passing, although one cannot learn this from the 
mirror but must take instead the word of the 
oculist, viz., that there is a small circular spot 
upon the retina, or back wall of the human eye, 
which is the only spot capable of receiving ab- 
solutely true impressions. This is found in no 
mammals save the order of Primates which in- 
cludes man, the apes and the monkeys, and it 
follows that the sight of lower animals, how- 
ever well adapted to their own purposes must 
be somewhat defective judged by human stand- 

| ards. 

Eeturning to our mirror inspection, supple- 
mented by experience, the protection of the 

} human eye is hardly less wonderful than its 
powers. "What of those arches that we call eye- 
brows, what is their office? Not merely beauty, 
we may be sure, beautiful as they often are. 
It is easy to solve the problem, on any warm day 
when the perspiration forms upon the forehead, 
rolls down the vertical, smooth surface — so dif- 
ferent from the hairy, sloping animal face — and 



20 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

then is deflected by those admirable arrange- 
ments of smooth lying hairs to a point beyond 
the angle of the eye. If an occasional smart- 
ing drop should enter through carelessness of 
position, it but emphasizes our indebtedness to 
the brows for the many they lead safely by. 

And then the lids, not only do they exclude the 
light when we wish to sleep, or modify it when it 
is too strong, but they must be constantly on 
guard against dust and other flying particles, 
closing automatically, "quick as a wink," and 
fringed with other hairs curved outward for the 
same beneficent purpose. Let an occasional bit 
of dust slip by the defense, however, and see how 
quickly the lachrymal glands flood the eye with 
tears to wash the intrusive particle into the nose 
passage or over the rim of the lower lid. 

Finally the eye must be protected from blows, 
must have a shelter in proportion to its great 
value, while still left in the exposed position 
from which alone it could be of any service. 
This is accomplished most beautifully by placing 
it in a socket formed by the bridge of the nose 
and the bones of the brow, cheek and temple, 
which so guard it that one can press a lead pencil 
across the average eye, either from top to bot- 
tom or from right to left, without particular dis- 
comfort, while the eye-ball is additionally so 
cushioned as to suffer ordinary blows and sur- 
vive. 



EYES 21 

All of which, without going at all into the 
technical side of optics, forms such abundant 
scope for our observation that we may well 
close a brief survey of Eyes in Animals with 
some of the plainer characteristics found in those 
of the head of the kingdom. 



CHAPTER II 



NOSES 




SK any three people 
what noses are for and 
two of the three will 
probably answer "to 
breathe with/' and let 
it go at that. The 
third, after a moment's 
thought, may add * ' and 
to smell with." Ask 
again, "What other uses has the nose beside 
breathing and smelling?" and now all three have 
no answer ; it is your turn. You continue, i ' The 
nose is also a probe, a plow, a club, a hand, an 
arm, a pump, a hose, a blow-pipe and a feeler!" 
By this time the first two have decided that 
you must be crazy- — always the easiest judgment 
upon the unusual — but the third begins to look 
interested, for he thinks he detects a bit of 
method in your madness. He wants to know 
' ' Why. ' ' For answer we shall examine a variety 
of Noses, in all their strange unlikeness, -to see 
whether we can discover some of Nature's rea- 
sons for making them to differ so greatly. 

22 



NOSES 23 

"froxt nostrils" axd "side nostrils" 

At the very outset, as in "Eyes," we meet 
with an interesting fact which might hardly 
be noticed were we considering the animals 
entire, instead of just their Noses. It is this: 
nearly all of the mammals divide into two great 
classes, viz., those having flat-tipped noses with 
both nostrils squarely in front and close to- 
gether, and those having slanting nostrils run- 
ning well around to the sides of the muzzle. A 
little examination reveals that this division is 
strongly marked, and when we come upon any- 
thing strongly marked in the realm of Nature, it 
is an invitation to ask "Why." 

We look again. Which are the animals hav- 

I ing Front-nostrils? The Dog family of course, 

, including the wolves and foxes, and all of the Cat 

tribe, little and big, from old "Tortoise-shell" in 

i the kitchen to the tiger in the jungle, as well as 

bears, hyenas, minks, weasels, etc., etc. Cu- 

I riously enough these seem to be practically the 

| same animals as the "Front-eyed" Hunters of 

; the last chapter. But even so, why should they 

have Front-nostrils? 

As we stand for a moment perplexed a dog 
' brings us our answer. He comes trotting 
along, his nose close to the ground, and, with- 
out hesitation, bends his course to the right or 
left as though tracing over some invisible chart 



24 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



by means of his power of scent. It is natural 
for him to do this. He has a nose especially 
fitted for it: that flat tip and those two openings 
squarely in front, where they can be brought to 
bear upon the same spot of ground in concen- 



^"^fe 







The Front Nostrils of the Wolf 



trated attention in order to pick up the delicate 
trace which human nostrils could not perceive. 

The dog is a natural meat eater, therefore must 
be a Hunter when not supported by man, and that 
wonderful nose is perhaps the most important 
part of his entire outfit. It helps him to find 



NOSES 25 

his prey. And the wolf, fox, tiger, lion, mink, 
weasel and other "Front-nostrils" are Hunters, 
too, and hence are also specialists in ground 
scent, as is shown by their noses. 

But as there are Hunters there must also be 
the Hunted, and these are found in that other 
great division, the "Side-nostrils," eaters of veg- 
etation, not flesh. These are keen-scented crea- 
tures too; but their interest is less in knowing 
what animals have passed before than in detect- 
ing those which may possibly be approaching, 
and this information comes to them on the wind 
from the most remarkable distances, as every 
hunter knows. Hence their nostrils run around 
to* the sides where they can read the message of 
each passing breeze and receive warning of the 
coming danger. 

"Jake," a guide in the deer country of Canada, 
was talking indignantly of the foolish ways of 
would-be hunters from the city. "Only yester- 
day," he said, "I was watching a fine buck, 
across a lake fully three-quarters of a mile wide. 
He was playing about on the other shore when 
<all of a sudden I noticed him lift his head, and 
sniff with his nose out in my direction. The 
mext moment he was off as hard as he could 
^jump. I was sure he could not see either 
/of us from where he stood, but when I looked 
around to the other chap I understood why the 
buck had jumped. The crazyheacl had lighted 



26 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



a cigar so quietly that I never heard him, though 
he was close to me. The deer smelt it, though 
nearly a mile away. ' ' 

Jake also objected to the scented toilet soap 
which his companion used, to the perfumed vase- 








The Doe's Side Nostrils 

line with which he anointed his gun, and espe- 
cially to the top-boots which he wore, soaked with 
tallow as a protection from moisture. These 
last, he insisted, must be exchanged for, his own 
spare pair of deerskin moccasins. "You see," 



NOSES 27 

he explained, "they are Indian-tanned by smoke, 
and the scent of wood smoke doesn't tell a deer 
that man is coming his way. Yes," he con- 
tinned, "it's a wonderful thing, is a deer's 
nose. Xow just look at this foot. See, just 
above the hoof on the leg there is a little cleft 
between the parts of the leg bone, just about as 
big as you could put the tip of the blade of a 
dinner knife into. That is where the deer car- 
ries its musk, the old hunters say. It is not a 
very powerful perfume, is it? Yet a deer will 
know its mate, or the sex of another deer, by the 
scent, far away, long before he can see its form. 
I've proved that many a time. 

" I believe that you will never get very near 
to deer of any kind if you have their blood upon 
your clothes. The Indian women have for gen- 
erations done all the skinning and bleeding of 
the game. And the reason is not, as some mis- 
sionaries think, because they are an uncivilized 
lot, but it's a case of self-preservation. The 
women know that it is necessary in order to get 
food, that the hunter should not be tainted so 
that he would not be able to catch up to the deer. ' ' 

THE BLOODHOUND'S NOSE 

We should expect to find that the bloodhound 
with his long, full muzzle, and broad, flat nostrils, 
had well developed powers of scent, and indeed 
he is the most famous of all the trailers. The 



> 



28 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

greyhound, on the other hand, has also a long 
muzzle but its tip is narrow and pointed, and his 
scent correspondingly so much weaker that he 
hunts by sight and is sometimes known as the 
' i gaze-hound. ' ' 

It is hard for the man born blind to form any 
conception of Sight; and it is hard for the 
degenerate human nostril to gain a true idea of 
the vastness and meaning of the World of Scent. 
True one may be gifted with power to discover 
when onions are being cooked, or to receive cer- 
tain impressions in passing an arbor of blossom- 
ing honeysuckle, but so also may some practically 
blind people dimly perceive a lighted lamp. This 
is not smelling as understood by our four-footed 
friends. What is to us chiefly a world of Sight, 
then of Sound, then of Touch, Smell and Taste, 
is to many of them chiefly a world of Smell, with 
Sight and Hearing as subordinate senses. 

Perhaps our own earliest ancestors far back 
before the dawn of history may have once pos- 
sessed this power in greater degree. Certain it 
is that memory has a curious trick of seizing fast 
on odors and weaving with them all kinds of 
unconscious associations. A veteran of the Civil 
War tells how vividly the battle of Antietam 
is flashed before his mind if he catch but a whiff 
of peppermint, since his regiment had been in a 
field of this pungent herb during the fighting. 
Other examples are within the experience of 



NOSES 29 

almost everyone ; while in dog-world scent-mem- 
ory is surely most prominent. A friend supplies 
the following instance. A small dog belonging to 
the household had formed a strong attachment for 
a young man of the f amily, who finally went away 
to college and was gone for a number of months. 
His return was somewhat unexpected, and 
coming in one day unknown to the rest of the 
family, he hung his coat on a hook in the hall- 
way and went out upon the rear veranda. 
Shortly afterward the dog came bounding down 
the stairway as was his wont and started to run 
to the front door, but in passing the coat, 
stopped with such suddenness that he almost 
went off his feet and then putting his nose to 
the floor rushed out to where his master was 
sitting. He. had remembered his master's 
scent as plainly as a person would recall his face 
or voice. 

But to return to the bloodhound, whose ex- 
traordinary keenness has long been used by man 
in trailing criminals, many instances are given 
which would be unbelievable were they less well 
established. One case is as follows: A dwell- 
ing in a Western city had been broken into by 
a burglar who made his escape without leaving 
a perceptible clue, perceptible that is, to man, 
for bloodhounds brought to the scene at once 
picked up the trail. Straining at their leashes 
they led the officers a roundabout course through 



30 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

many busy streets, plunged into a railroad 
station where possibly five thousand people had 
passed in the few hours which had elapsed, 
then out again across the railroad yard, and 
finally ran the thief down in a small hut in the 
outskirts of town. 

In another instance bloodhounds trailed a 
stolen horse and buggy into St. Joseph, Mo., 
from a distance of 135 miles, after being per- 
mitted to smell of the curry comb; and the 
thieves were arrested. 

In this case even the iron of the horse's shoe 
was transparent to the odor of the horse, laid 
down upon the ground at every stride. What 
can it be, this strange, elusive and yet most 
potent thing of scent? 

THE JSTOSTKILS OF THE HOUSE" AND COW 

To see a handsome, clean-limbed horse dash 
past at high speed, with mane and tail flying and 
great nostrils widely distended, who would need 
to be told that the reason for this power of 
spreading is the same as that which causes one's 
own nostrils to dilate when running? The horse 
with his great speed and endurance needs a large 
intake of air and must have the nostrils to sup- 
ply it. 

With our common cattle the needs and the 
nostrils are different. Narrow and compara- 
tively rigid they can furnish no such deep 



NOSES 



31 



draughts of oxygen; but then their owners have 
been free from danger for so many generations 
that they have rarely the need for violent exer- 
tion. 




The Horse's Flexible Nostrils 



That this form is due to manner of life rather 
than to race is seen upon comparing the cow's 
nostrils with the much larger ones of her wild 
cousin, the buffalo. 



32 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

THE CAMEL'S NOSE 

With the camel we come to a very different 
kind of nostril, and this warns ns of a different 
mode of life. It is almost like telling a detect- 
ive story backward to try to reason out the 
latter from the former in an animal so well 






»«#>"*f " *K*v.. 







The Slit-like Nostrils of the Camel 



known as the camel; but even so it is not without 
interest. 

Here, then, is a nostril even narrower than 
the cow's, but set in soft skin instead of the 
rigid, gristly substance of the other. This soft 
skin permits expansion when the camel is 
swinging in long easy strides across the desert 
courses, and also makes it possible to close the 



NOSES 33 

nostrils tightly in time of sand-storm. When 
the great wind, gaining power in its fierce 
sweep over desert wastes, fills the air and 
darkens the sun with flying particles of sand, 
the camel riding it out like a true ship of the 
desert will survive where the wide-nostriled 
horse would quickly choke. 

The many wild camels found in some parts 
of Turkestan are believed to be descended from 
certain domestic ones, which were thus enabled 
to live through a terrible sand-storm of some 
two hundred years ago. from which no human 
being escaped. 

THE ALLIGATOR'S NOSE 

The long snout of the alligator, or of his 
cousin the crocodile, usually ends in a slightly 
raised hump bearing a couple of slit-like nos- 
trils. 

Like those of the camel these have the power 
of closing tightly to seal the air passages, but 
not against sand-storms, for the alligator is 
hardly designed for a "ship of the desert." In 
fact both the nostril and the hump point to the 
same fact, viz. : the water-life of an air-breath- 
ing animal. Floating or swimming noiselessly 
nearly submerged in the water with his cruel 
eyes projecting above the surface, this elevated 
nose tip enables him to breathe in that position 
so that the unsuspecting animal coming to drink 



34 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

does not notice the stealthy approach. Then it 
is seized by a sudden snap of the tremendous 
jaws, and as the great reptile sinks with his 
victim beneath the surface the nostrils closing 
prevent the inflow of water. 

At this point another interesting arrangement 
comes into play, although one outside the range 
of our easy observation. The air passages do 
not open into the mouth cavity as do ours, but 
run so far back as to be completely shut off 
from it, and no water comes into the lungs even 
when the mouth is opened below the surface, 
while there are special valves in the mouth 
itself — but that we must save for our Chapter 
on "Mouths" lest we stray too far from 
"Noses." 

It is enough to say that the alligator can hold 
his prey under water until it is drowned; 
while if he thrust but the tip of his own snout 
above the surface he is supplied with sufficient 
air. 

Many other air-breathing, water-loving ani- 
mals, among them creatures so unlike as the 
hippopotamus and the seal, are also provided 
with these closing nostrils. 

THE PIG'S SNOUT 

And now we come to a new division of the 
subject. Up to this point we have been consid- 



NOSES 35 

ering noses which were merely "breathers" and 
"smellers"; but the pig's snout has still another 
important use for its owner has farther needs, 
and Nature has not hesitated to throw their 
burden upon his snout. These needs refer to 
the satisfying of an appetite which has made him 
famous. 

Once in a while we meet with an exception 
which warns us against cock-sureness in making 
definitions. The pig is such an exception. He 
has front nostrils apparently well adapted to 
following a trail; he has partially front eyes, 
also somewhat like the hunters; and while he 
does not refuse to eat flesh, yet he may not be 
ranked as a beast of prey, save upon rare occa- 
sions. 

The principal thing to notice about the pig's 
snout is the cutting edge of its gristly tip, and 
anyone who has seen the havoc of this animated 
plow in a garden will not need to be told its 
purpose. Backed by a long, strong head, and 
powerfully muscled neck and shoulders it is used 
with great success in laying bare the secrets 
of the soil. But why? Well, there is the con- 
stant urging of that great appetite which must 
be satisfied. The pig is neither a beast of prey 
nor a successful grazer. Apples and other 
fruits are most acceptable, but the pig cannot 
climb for them and they do not fall save during 



36 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

a limited time, nor last long npon the ground. 
Acorns, beechnuts and the like are more endur- 
ing, but are apt sooner or later to disappear in 
the ground-tangle or beneath the surface, where 
they must be sought with just such an eagerly 
snuffing, swiftly cutting instrument as this 
snout. And then there are always those roots — 
those fleshy, tuberous, satisfying roots, which 
most of the other animals cannot enjoy because 
they lack the power to "root." 

Our lazy hogs, gorging themselves at the 
well-filled trough, and squealing unhappily be- 
cause they cannot hold another mouthful, may 
not have great use for a digging implement, but 
one must not judge animals as they have been 
influenced in habits by man. The farmer with 
his potato-parings and his bucket of sour milk 
has not always been known in pig-world. Cu- 
riously enough, however, the pig loses his "civ- 
ilization" very quickly once the opportunity 
arises. It is said to take but three generations 
of running wild to turn the ponderous Berk- 
shire, round as a barrel, short-snouted and with 
insignificant feet, into a lean, wiry, bristly 
"razor-back," swift as the wind, a savage 
fighter, and an active rooter. 

It must also be remembered that with eyes 
placed so far from the food he seeks, the end 
nostrils help him to locate it. 



NOSES 37 

THE MOLE'S NOSE 

If the pig roots at the surface, the mole goes 
through a somewhat similar process below, and 
his little pointed muzzle pushes its way through 
the loose soil, with the impulse of his powerful 
feet, wherever the delicate senses of scent and 
feeling may indicate a worm or an insect. 

The star-nosed mole has an odd little branch- 
ing protuberance at the end of his snout, which 
from its position is most probably an extremely 
sensitive organ of touch, responsive to the 
slightest motion in the earth about. 

The old question as to whether the mole is a 
pest or a blessing depends upon one's point of 
view. It is doubtless annoying to have a tunnel 
driven through a garden sometimes injuring 
the roots which lie in its course, but it must also 
be remembered that the small intruder is in 
search of beetles, cut-worms, grubs, etc., eating 
something like his own weight every day. One 
farmer is recorded as having destroyed every 
mole on his property only to lose his crop next 
season to the cut-worms. Thereafter he pur- 
chased moles from his neighbors and preserved 
them as friends. 

THE ANT-EATER'S NOSE 

These snouts, however, do not compare with 
!the very long tubular muzzle of the Giant Ant- 



i 



38 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



Eater, a nose so extraordinary that were it not 
for the clue supplied by his name we might 
hardly guess its use. 

Even so it is not clear at once. We are most 
familiar with the common ants which swarm 
in decaying wood or dig in our garden paths, 
and why should this peculiar creature need 







" . w0A 






The Probixg Nose of the Great Ant-Eater 



such a probe-like nose to feed on them? 
Neither would he, were these the ants he had 
to deal with, but in those lands where he makes 
his home the busy insects throw up huge colony- 
mounds often taller than a man. Thus his 
problem is a peculiar one, calling for special 
tools. 



NOSES 



39 



With his powerful claws the ant-eater tears 
his way into these great earth heaps; then his 
long probing nose and slender, flexible tongue 
play havoc in the rudely uncovered galleries. 

THE MOOSE'S XOSE 

Eeturning to our own northern forests, we 
may, if we are skillful and fortunate, some day 
catch a glimpse of a big, long-legged, spread- 








The Browsixg Muzzle of the Moose 

ing-antlered beast with what seems like an 
awkwardly bulbous, projecting muzzle-end. 
Although he belongs to the deer family we can 
pasily see that such an obstacle would not per- 



40 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

mit liim to graze with comfort, even were 
his neck of greater length; but our confidence 
in the wisdom of Nature leads us to look farther 
for the answer. And then, possibly, we ob- 
serve him reach up to a branch above and skill- 
fully gather in twigs and leaves with that same 
overhanging muzzle, now seen to be prehensile, 
and realize that for his particular purpose it is 
a help instead of a hindrance. Browsing, not 
grazing is the meaning of such a form. 

THE TAP IK 'S SNOUT 

The tapir suggests an understudy to the ele- 
phant — not fitted to play the star's part- — having 
legs thick but less massive, a body bulky but not 
so huge, and a long, overhanging proboscis too 
short to be called a trunk. 

It is of exactly the right length, however, to 
browse upon leaves and shoots, while for poking 
about in the long grass for such dainties as 
fallen fruits it is most efficient. 

THE ELEPHANT'S TRUNK 

But it is in the trunk of the elephant that the 
ne plus ultra of all noses is reached. It would 
be hard to find an adult, and harder to find a 
child, who did not feel a special interest in this 
mightiest of land animals, and of course such 
interest largely centers in the amazing append- 





THE ELEPHANT'S VERSATILE TRUNK 

This Is the Famous "Gunda," the Former Cashier of the "Elephants' Bank' 

Described in the Text. In this Mew he Is Using his Trunk in its 

Natural Employment of Food Conveyer 



NOSES 41 

age hanging down before liis mouth. Any 
youngster who visits a "Zoo" and pauses be- 
fore one of these vast creatures, so strongly 
suggestive of a bygone age, must have a hard 
heart indeed if he can refuse to share his sup- 
ply of peanuts with that leathery, double-bar- 
reled tube which offers itself so persistently. 
And if his hand happens to touch this peanut- 
collector he gets an impression of iron-like 
muscles combined with a living flexibility which 
is difficult to forget. Well may he touch it with 
respect. Cuvier once dissected a trunk and 
tried to count its muscles but tired after reach- 
ing 20,000 ! He estimated that there were 
double that number. Probably most people do 
not realize how marvelously versatile is this 
member — how helpless its owner would be with- 
out it. 

Consider then that the elephant, whose life 
someone has described as "one continuous 
meal," must supply his enormous body with 
several hundred pounds of food per day and 
that every mouthful of this must be carried by the 
trunk. Without it he would stand helpless, per- 
haps able to browse a little from vegetation 
which happened to be of the exact height of his 
mouth but with so little neck movement that 
even this would be difficult, while with it he is 
the most independent of animals, free to choose 
food from the ground, from the tree-tops or 



42 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

from several feet to the right or left, the proba- 
bility being that he will end by choosing every- 
thing within reach. The trunk is thus neck, 
hand and arm, in addition to its use for breath- 
ing and smelling. 

The food-collecting is not, however, limited 
merely to plucking that which offers itself easily, 
but it often includes most prodigious feats of 
strength, such as tearing off large limbs or even 
uprooting moderate sized trees. One traveler 
speaking of the forests lying between the Vic- 
toria and Albert Lakes says: "The damage 
done by elephants to these forests is incredible. 
I have more than once come upon spots where 
these huge beasts would appear to have held 
a kind of elephant carnival. A large area cov- 
ering many acres would be completely stripped 
of trees, nothing but jagged stumps sticking up 
a few feet from the ground remaining of what 
had once been thick forest." 

Frederic Selous, the famous hunter and ex- 
plorer, gives an appalling example of this 
strength, in which a bull elephant seized a big, 
powerful Zulu of his acquaintance, and hold- 
ing him down wrapped his trunk about the 
man's body and actually tore him into three 
pieces. 

When caught and trained, however, this same 
strength is turned into account for man's service 
and the Asiatic elephant is commonly employed 



NOSES 43 

with trunk and tusks for handling large timbers 
which would tax the strength of a number of 
men. It is fortunate indeed for the rest of the 
animal world that the elephant does not also 
possess such ferocity as for example that of the 
weasel, but is naturally quiet and good natured. 

Added to these qualities he has that of ex- 
treme caution. Save at the mating season or 
when wounded the elephant rarely does any- 
thing reckless, and this is no doubt largely due 
to his great weight. With little to fear from 
any other animal save man, he has much to fear 
from the results of a misstep for once fallen 
into some awkward place his size and his lack 
of springing muscles would tell heavily against 
him. Consequently the wise beast, well know- 
ing his limitations, finds this same hanging 
feeler of the utmost importance as he moves 
ponderously along, and should it detect any- 
thing suspicious there is time for him to stop 
short of peril. Probably the elephant's hundred 
or more years of life are largely due to this 
guardian of his steps. 

AYlien swimming or fording rivers the ele- 
phant's trunk is used like the diver's air tube, 
for by thrusting the end above the surface he 
will have a supply of air even though his en- 
tire body be under water. A pathetic instance 
of this air-tube use occurring many years ago is 
thus given by an eve witness: 



44 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

. . . "In 1833 an elephant at Sonepoor, 
opposite Patna, had waded into the Gunduck 
River near the junction of the stream with the 
Ganges till it stepped into a quicksand. Its ef- 
forts to emerge merely worked it deeper and 
deeper into the dreadful trap . . . slowly, 
slowly, but surely it settled in its living tomb. 
It was some hours before they lost sight of the 
poor eyes staring piteously at the spectators on 
the shore. It was long before the head itself 
had sunk under the turbid stream and when 
toward sunset I had arrived at the spot on my 
way from Hajipoor to Patna, nothing but the 
end of the trunk was visible sucking in the last 
gulps of air the poor creature was able to in- 
hale." 

The elephant's trunk is oftentimes a good 
example of a pump and hose attachment. No 
need to stoop from his majestic height for a drink ; 
the trunk lowered to the stream sucks up a deep 
draught of water and then bending, discharges 
it into the thirsty throat, or again if the day 
be hot and thirst be slaked the water may be 
sprayed in grateful coolness upon his back and 
sides. Everyone has also heard stories of ex- 
hibition elephants avenging some old-time in- 
sult with a sudden douche of water. 

When not a hose, the trunk may be a blow-pipe 
instead, and a good-sized sigh will whirl the 



NOSES 45 

dust of the enclosure or blow away the straw 
he is fond of flinging upon his back. 

So much for the trunk considered as a whole, 
although much more might be said; but it must 
not be forgotten that with all of an elephant's 
strength and intelligence the most truly remark- 
able point is his extraordinary dexterity and 
niceness, because of the little pointed finger 
upon the end of his trunk. In the New York 
Zoological Park is one big fellow named 
"Gunda" who went in for "high finance" and 
operated a bank, with the assistance of his 
keeper. High above his head, fastened to the 
bars of his cage, was a box marked "Elephant's 
Bank," and, hanging by it, a bell. Visitors 
were always ready to toss a small coin into the 
cage and this falling upon the smooth cement 
floor would be hard for a man to pick up unless 
he used his finger nails. Down came the trunk 
with a lazy sweep, located the coin, which the 
skillful end-finger deftly secured, and then 
swung it up to the box, raising the lid and ring- 
ing the bell in doing so. 

That this finger is as powerful as it is precise 
was shown by an incident at the New York Cen- 
tral Park Zoo in 1903. Jewel, one of the in- 
mates, was noticed to be suffering from lame- 
ness and the elephant man decided that she must 
have a corn upon the sole of her foot, as is often 



46 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 






the case with captive elephants. Examination 
showed a rather unusual callous spot and upon 
cutting into it the keepers were surprised to 
come upon the head of a three-inch wire nail. 
By pulling with a pair of pincers this was drawn 
out about an inch and there stuck, being bent 
in the middle. The poor beast trumpeted in 
pain and then swinging her trunk around twined 
its finger about the head of the nail and had it 
out before her keepers realized what had hap- 
pened. 

From every standpoint let us respect this no- 
ble creature, more worthy than the lion to be 
known as the "King of Beasts" and let us re- 
member that no mechanism man has ever made, 
can compare with that marvelous instrument 
the elephant ? s trunk. 

THE HUMAN NOSE 

Did you ever think how carefully guarded 
one's eating is: how every particle of food must 
run the gauntlet of four of the five senses? 
First it is seen, and the eye judges it by its 
appearance. Next one picks it up, when some- 
thing peculiar may be noticed in feeling or 
weight. Then in entering the mouth it must 
pass under the downturned nostrils, and even 
the human sense of smell is of no little pro- 
tection since the morsel which has satisfied sight 
and touch may fail at this test. The mouth, 



NOSES 



47 



i 



l 



§ 

I 



/ 



too, has delicate nerves of feeling in both lips 
and tongue ; and finally the taste may reject even 
the bitten mouthful unswallowed. It would 
seem strange that man should ever have to di- 
gest anything unwholesome; but what can be 
expected of a creature 
who will eat not acci- 
dentally but intention- 
ally, food which his own 
experience has shown 
him to be unfit? Xone 
of his brethren of fur, 
feather or fin would so 
transgress, and Nature 
has assuredly done her 
part. 

Starting (externally) / 
from between the eyes, / 
the nose forms a ridge 
which helps to guard 
those very important 
features from injury. 
Then after dividing the 
face and accenting the 
expression it ends in two narrow but flexible nos- 
trils. These nostrils are separated from the 
mouth and turned downward directly over it be- 
cause man, unlike most mammals, eats without 
thrusting his nose into his food. Man's nose 
has not additional uses like the elephant's trunk, 



/ 




The Dowx-turxed Human 
Nostrils 



48 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

but is merely a breather and smeller — very much 
a breather, very little a smeller. 

There is one thing, however, which, while it 
concerns us most closely, is generally overlooked, 
viz. : the way in which the nose protects the lungs. 
The air is full of floating particles. Let a beam 
of sunlight strike through even apparently clear 
air and it will light up a surprising number of 
dancing motes. At other times one is forced to 
breathe in atmosphere so thick with dust that 
he is almost blinded. Think of it, so many 
breaths a minute, night and day, year after year, 
with particles of foreign matter in practically 
every breath ! How many pounds, actual pounds 
of dust must thus first and last be drawn in 
through the nostrils! What becomes of it all? 
This dust is mainly mineral and cannot be as- 
similated, the lungs are not digestive organs 
and they have no other outlet. We might im- 
agine that they would soon become solidified into 
two great dust-cakes were it not for the won- 
derful guardianship of the nose. In the air- 
passages is a mucous lining, moist and sticky — 
sometimes in case of a cold unpleasantly so. It 
is very much the story of the fly and the sticky 
fly-paper. The nasal passages are narrow and 
twisting. The air does not enter in a solid col- 
umn but must turn corners and "spread out 
thin" and all along the route the sticky coating 
takes toll in the shape of the dust particles un- 



NOSES 49 

til the air is relieved of its burden. This mucous 
discharge is continually making its way down- 
ward to the nose opening under the influence of 
gravity and especially through the wonderful 
action of the ciliated epithelial cells. Here in- 
deed we stray a trifle beyond our subject, since 
these cells are much too small to be seen without 
a microscope, but the} 7 are too interesting to be 
omitted, and whether seen or unseen are actually 
there in vast numbers in daily service of our 
needs. It is enough to say that the mucous 
lining is filled with myriads of these tiny cells 
bearing hair-like threads called " cilia" which 
have a curious waving or kicking motion, always 
in the direction of the opening — a motion which 
greatly helps in working out undesirable parti- 
cles. Such epithelial cells are not peculiar to 
the human body and a doctor supplies an ac- 
count of a college laboratory experiment with 
a piece of mucous lining taken from the mouth 
of a frog. The lining was laid upon the corner 
of a table and a tiny tissue-paper boat placed 
upon its inside edge. During the class lecture 
the boat traveled slowly across under the action 
of this kicking motion (for the cells retain their 
life long after being removed from the animal) 
and fell upon the floor before the lecture ended. 
Sometimes a particularly large and disagree- 
able particle enters the passage in spite of the 
nostril hairs, which generally prevent it, and 



50 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

then the sensitive nose-nerves telegraph hastily 
to the diaphragm for a spasmodic blast which 
sends it flying. We call this a sneeze. These 
nerves are necessarily very sensitive, and oc- 
casionally, becoming hysterical, they actually 
call for help which is not needed, as in a fit of 
sneezing; but on the whole it is better so than 
to have them sluggish. 

And here, perhaps, it may be well to draw an 
unexhausted subject to a close; for as with 
"Eyes" and all the other subjects our purpose 
is merely to suggest with a few instances, the 
methods which may be more broadly applied. 






CHAPTER III 



EAES 




EEN as is the sense of 
Hearing, in many animals 
it ranks probably third in 
the kingdom as a whole, 
compared with Sight and 
Scent. Man would place it 
second, but man with all 
his self-esteem is only one 
small fraction of the great 
animal kingdom, and by no means a model of 
sense perception. Therefore in giving Ears the 
third place we must average the needs of onr two- 
and four-footed brethren and onr brethren of 
no feet at all. Even so, the whole subject of 
Sound and Hearing is a wonderful one, and we 
never cease to marvel at its possibilities as re- 
vealed to us by the phonograph, telephone, and 
other achievements of modern science. 

This great vibrating air envelope about us is 
so alive that possibly not one minute of absolute 
silence comes to anyone, not actually deaf, from 
birth to death. The ' ' silence of a summer night ' ' 

• 51 



52 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

is a veritable symphony of the soft sounds of 
Nature; at any hour in a city room there is al- 
most always some faint suggestion of outside 
life, and the sound of breathing or even of the 
pulsing of our blood is perceptible at times. It 
is really more a matter of attention than of any- 
thing else ; but we are ordinarily so occupied with 
our own thoughts and plans as to deny ourselves 
many sense perceptions to which the free-minded 
animal instantly responds. The curtain is 
drawn from the inside — not the outside. 

"front ears" and "side ears" 

The above heading is inexact, for those ani- 
mals designated as "Front-eared" have some 
side-ear movement, and "Side-eared" animals 
can hear forward. The distinction is not so 
clear as with Eyes or Nostrils and it has more 
exceptions; yet there is a distinction which can- 
not be overlooked and which marks much of the 
same line between the Hunters and the Hunted. 

Taking the cat as the typical hunter we find 
ears that naturally point nearly forward and are 
large, as they should be in a night-hunting ani- 
mal when sounds are important. These ears 
are very broad across the base, well adapted to 
gathering even faint sound waves, and anyone 
who has seen a cat hunting will have noticed 
how they are set, as part of the whole attitude 
of attention. 



EARS 53 

Let a sound occur at the side and the ear will 
"flick" toward it readily enough, but if the 
sound passes around to the back where the ear 
of a horse or a rabbit would easily follow it, 
the cat has difficulty. Her ear is too broad at 
the base to turn very far and begins to close 
instead. Pussy will lay back her ears when she 
is angry, it is true, but not for the purpose of 
hearing behind her. Bather it is from a natural 
instinct to protect organs so large and easily 
torn, in going into battle, just as a battleship is 
cleared for action. Carrying nautical figures 
still farther, anyone who has seen a tugboat bend 
back its hinged smokestack in passing under a 
low bridge will also appreciate the convenience 
of having ears which will lie down when crawling 
through contracted places as the cat is fond of 
doing. 

These same ear characteristics, in varying 
degree, are met with among a large part of the 
Hunting Animals, although one very remark- 
able exception will be noted in the ears of 
hounds. 

The Hunted Animals, especially such as live 
upon the ground, must be ever on their guard, 
so ears as well as eyes and nostrils are posted 
for sentinels. Their ears are usually narrower 
at their base so as to turn more readily. We 
do not think of the horse as a hunted animal, 
but his forefathers were, so he will furnish an 



54 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

illustration. Notice him standing relaxed when 
nothing ahead attracts his attention and you 
will see that his ears naturally open sideways 
instead of nearly forward like the cat's. At 
the slightest sound in front he will prick them 
forward in a flash, or if you speak to him in 
driving, the opening is instantly directed back- 
ward and you realize how much head turning 
is saved by the ready action. He does not have 
to neigh "I beg your pardon" and wheel about 
with results disastrous to the carriage. He 
plods quietly ahead and simply presents his ear 
instead. 

THE BABBITTS EAK 

"Br'er Rabbit's" ears have made him famous 
from the earliest times and are an important 
part of his outfit. It is needless to say that such 
large ears must be especially sensitive to sound, 
or that the shrewd, mischievous but well-nigh 
defenseless little fellow has great need of keen 
senses. The length of his ears is most valuable 
when he squats in the long grass where sight is 
hindered and the scent-bringing breeze cannot 
blow freely. At such time by rising on his 
haunches with ears aloft he can read the faint 
sound warnings that come across the grass-tops 
and take to his fleet little heels if danger threat- 
ens. It seems also probable that even if seen 
these ears might often be mistaken for the long 
narrow leaves of some weed. 



EARS 55 

Without such ears and such heels, without, too, 
their extraordinary reproductive powers, rab- 
bits would have been exterminated long ago. 
They form a favorite prey for many beasts and 
some birds, while man with his gun and snare 
is ever to be reckoned with. It is said that more 
than 1,000,000 are eaten yearly by Maine French- 
men alone. 

THE BLOODHOUND 's EAR 

One who is carrying his ""Why" among the 
ears of the animal kingdom, and trying as with 
"Eyes" and "Noses" to find some reason for 
their differences in form, is apt to receive a 
mental jolt when he turns to consider the 
dogs. If sound is borne in air vibration, if 
the outer ear is designed to gather and focus 
these sound waves for the ear drum, then whv 
should so many varieties of dogs have ears which 
almost seem designed to defeat this purpose? 
What is the reason for the flap which hangs 
down before the ear-opening and is such an ex- 
ceptional form in the animal kingdom? Is it 
to protect the ear from the entrance of insects? 
Undoubtedly it may have this effect, but many 
other animals manage this protection by means 
of the long hairs which fill the opening without 
checking sound. Why may not the dog? 

If we put our hands over our ears it interferes 
with our hearing, much more, it is true, than does 



56 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



the thin skin of a dog's ear-flap, but still we 
cannot doubt that this flap is actually an inter- 
ference with sound. This is further borne out 
when we speak to a hound and notice him ' ' cock 
his ears" to hear more clearly. What then are 




Bloodhound Puppy Showing Great Length of Ear-Flaps 



we to understand from this strangely contradic- 
tory phenomenon in the realm of well-ordered 
Nature ? 

It seems to the writer that the simplest ex- 
planation is also the most reasonable hypothe- 
sis. The flap must interfere to some extent with 



EARS 57 

the dog's hearing; may it not indeed be that 
such interference serves a valuable purpose? 
We have taken the bloodhound's ears as an ex- 
treme example of this overhanging obstruction. 
Is it only a coincidence that the bloodhound is 
also an extreme example of the high develop- 
ment of another sense — the power of scent? Is 
it merely another coincidence that the greyhound 
with so little scent-keenness that he cannot well 
follow a trail, has nearly upright ears well 
adapted for hearing? 

The writer remembers a friend who was asked 
to notice whether he could detect a peculiar faint 
odor, and who impatiently said "Hush!" as his 
companion began speaking. The other laughed 
and asked him whether he smelled with his ears, 
but his instinct was correct: he needed to con- 
centrate his attention upon a single sense, and 
sound was a distraction. With this illustration 
in mind, consider the marvelous delicacy of the 
bloodhound's task in following the almost in- 
finitely faint trail left by a man wearing shoes 
and walking rapidly along a street — in doing 
this moreover hours afterward, and in keeping 
the individual trail distinct from that of the many 
other foot passengers. One's imagination is 
staggered at the difficulty of such an undertak- 
ing and it is easy to see that the four-footed 
specialist would have need for the greatest con- 
centration upon his marvelous power of nostril. 



58 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

Instances are given of bloodhounds so indiffer- 
ent to everything save the trail they were fol- 
lowing that they have been killed by the 
"unheeded approach of a train. Under these cir- 
cumstances does it seem a far-fetched explana- 
tion that the bloodhound and other keen-scented 
dogs should actually find value in the curtaining 
of sound afforded by their ear-flaps, when focus- 
ing all their powers upon the difficult task of 
their nostrils? 

The extent to which a hound will ignore all 
other senses when following a trail is shown 
by this incident given by Dan Beard in his jolly 
"Animal Book": ". . . Another time when 
the writer was seated on the doorstep of a Penn- 
sylvania farmhouse, ... he saw a fox, 
chased by a hound, come trotting along the trail 
amid the stones and big rocks of the mountain- 
side. . . . Presently it hopped upon a 
stone about the height of a man's waist, from 
there it jumped to the slanting trunk of a chest- 
nut tree which gave it just sufficient foothold 
for another spring to the top of a rock about 
eight feet high; landing on the flat surface of 
this large stone it coolly walked over to the edge 
and squatted in a position to command a view of 
the trail. It waited there for the hound to go 
by. . . . Apparently the fox enjoyed the 
hunt as much as did the hound, for after the 
hound had passed the rock the fox would jump 



i 



EARS ' 59 

down from its perch and go through the same 
tactics again and again to the utter bewilderment 
of the dog. It never seemed to occur to the dog 
to look up or about, or to use its eyes in the 
search but it depended entirely upon its nose to 
find the object of its pursuit. 7 ' x 

THE ELEPHANT'S EAE 

Our massive friend the elephant who makes 
such an impressive showing as proprietor of the 
most marvelous of noses comes to the fore 
again with the largest pair of ears to be found 
in the animal kingdom. These, particularly 
in the African species, are of such enormous 
size that Sir Samuel Baker tells of using one as 
a mat to lie on in the shade of a tree. They 
are also capable of being either extended at right 
angles to the head or laid back smoothly upon 
the animal's shoulders. In charging, the Afri- 
can elephant extends his ears like two great 
sails and as each is often some 3y 2 feet broad 
their total width including the forehead may be 
as much as 10 feet. One can imagine the terri- 
fying nature of such an apparition accompanied 
by its tons of weight and its giant strength. 

At first there might seem to be points of re- 
semblance between the hanging ear-flap of the 
elephant and that of the hound, but on looking 

i Dan Beard's Animal Book, Moffat, Yard & Co., New York. 



60 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



more closely we see that the elephant's ear- 
opening is left uncovered by the flap so that the 
sound waves are not diminished by having to 
pass through skin. The elephant is normally 
side-eared and with his ears at rest his hearing 
cannot be especially keen, but as soon as he 




The Ear Spread of ax African Elephant 



extends these sail-like organs the whole situa- 
tion is changed. He becomes at once front-eared 
in that his hearing is directed forward, and the 
reinforcement of these great vans- — as with the 
man who holds his hand behind his ear — must 
wonderfully quicken his hearing. 

Why, then, an arrangement so unusual? 



EARS 61 

It must be remembered, as stated in the pre- 
ceding chapter, that the elephant has little to 
fear from four-footed animals but much to fear 
lest an incautious step should get his great bulk 
into some dangerous pitfall. Hence he moves 
with caution and the long, hanging trunk helps 
to determine his footing. His eyes, too, are set 
in such a position that they can watch his path. 
But the elephant, like many tropical animals, is 
semi-nocturnal and loves to wander about in the 
darkness when his rather poor eyes can be of 
little service and the sense of hearing must 
largely replace them. "With ears so placed as 
to listen forward, a suspicious sound might give 
some warning of danger before the trunk had 
come within reaching distance. 

On the other hand think of the great incon- 
venience of such ears if fixed immovably in this 
position. How soon would they be torn to rib- 
bons by the branches of his native forests did 
not Nature provide a way to lay them back 
smoothly out of trouble when they met with an 
obstacle. 

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS'S EAE 

Nearly as bulky as his giant neighbor, the 
shorter, clumsier hippopotamus has ears that are 
almost grotesquely small in proportion to his 
size. He, however, does not spend his hours 
roaming forest shades, but has a genius for be- 



62 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



ing comfortable in almost any lake or river o 
somewhat swampy conditions where he can be 
left undisturbed. Let others run the affairs of 
forest and jungle, what is their activity com- 
pared with the placid content of munching and 
dozing in the mud and water? 



; 




Elevated Ears, Eyes and Nostrils of Hippopotamus 

And then if one wish to sink luxuriously and lie 
nearly submerged, what arrangement could be 
better than to have one's ears placed with the 
eyes and nostrils on the very top of the head, 
where they may still be useful after the rest of 
the great form has disappeared from view? 

the owl's ear 

Someone is sure to ask, ere this, "But how 
about the ears of birds?" Our answer must be 
that birds have ears concealed among the 
feathers of the head, which cannot, of course, 
be as keen as though reinforced by external 
sound-wave gatherers, and are evidence in them- 
selves that birds depend less upon hearing than 
on sight. 

We are dealing only, however, with such ears 
as may readily be observed and so naturally turn 



EARS 63 

to the one bird which at least appears to be eared 
— the owl. These two horn-like appearances 
are really tufts of feathers, so different from 
the ears of skin and cartilage that we may per- 
haps question their right to the name, and yet 
they are found in a bird whose concealed ear- 
openings are of great size and it is probable from 
their shape and position that they are of some 
little assistance in deflecting sound waves into 
them. If so they are veritable ears, whatever 
their structure. 

It must always be remembered that the owl 
is the night hunter among birds, and, noiseless 
himself because of his strange plumage, is keenly 
listening for every indication of prey. 

THE HUMAN" EAR 

Those crumpled bits of skin-covered cartilage 
stuck upon the side of the human countenance — 
are they not curious when one stops to think? 
Suppose that it were proposed to decorate 
the smooth beauty of a bird's head with such 
appendages, would it not seem grotesque? Yet 
there they are, confronting us in the mirror or 
borne by our companions, and even our artistic 
taste would hardly consent to their removal, for 
there is a certain beauty which goes with their 
crumpled curves, and sonnets have been written 
in praise of "shell-like ears." 

Considered practically, however, the human ex- 



64 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 




ternal ear is a most ingenious arrangement which 
differs greatly from all other types save that of 

our ape and monkey 
' ' kindred. ' ' Here again, 
as in eyes, man appears 
classed both with the 
Hunters and the Hunted 
— he may be called both 
Front-eared and Side- 
eared. Front-eared in 
that his ears stand out 
somewhat from the sides 
of his head and that the 
rim and the bowl-like 
hollow at the center are 
so shaped as to inter- 
cept sound waves coming 
from in front, while 
he is obviously Side- 
eared in that the great- 
est surface is presented sideways. 

Man, too, is comparatively alone in lacking 
ability to move his ears, and, it may be added, in 
any need for moving them. The reason is not 
far to seek. Man stands upright upon two feet, 
instead of extended on four, and can wheel about 
more quickly than even the most agile animal. 
Furthermore, his head is poised on top of his 
neck instead of being hung far in front, like a 
horse's, for instance, and can turn instantly. 



The Immovable Human 
Ear 






EARS 65 

These facts give him an advantage much greater 
than the movable ears of his four-footed friends. 

Ear-protection has been provided too — protec- 
tion differing in kind from that of eye and nose 
but none the less effective. No large foreign 
body can enter the ear-tube because of a little 
corner which narrows the opening and just above 
this a small projecting tip protects the same 
opening from both front and side and helps to 
deflect the sound waves into the tube after they 
have been condensed by the bowl-like hollow. 
This tip is most important in shielding the ear 
from the winds and the particles which they bear, 
and little clanger remains to the ordinary man 
save from an occasional inquisitive insect small 
enough to explore the inviting cavern. But here 
indefatigable Nature has provided most effect- 
ively a sticky wax, bitter and offensive to the 
insect taste which usually discourages farther 
investigation. This wax is continually secreted 
anew, since the peculiar shape of the surrounding 
bones and their action on the ear-tube when the 
jaws are moved tends slowly to force the wax 
downward and outward to the ear opening, bear- 
ing with it whatever may be imbedded therein. 

Of course all this concerns only the ear outside 
of the drum, since that alone is within the range 
of the ordinary observer, while the complicated 
and wonderful structure of the inner ear and 
the ingenious way in which the drums are pro- 



66 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

tected by equalizing the air pressure upon both 
sides comes beyond the scope of our amateur 
' 'Why." There are books which will supply 
such information to those who care to pursue the 
subject farther, and the wonders of Nature's pro- 
vision will ever repay the student who wishes to 
employ his "Why" in more serious investigation. 



CHAPTER IV 



MOUTHS 




OW come we to the most 
important of all the feat- 
ures. An animal can ex- 
ist without sight or hear- 
ing and even a thing so 
indispensable as breath 
may occasionally be taken 
through the mouth if 
nostrils are disabled, but 
there is no other pro- 
vision of Nature for the 
reception of food save in some of the lowest 
forms of life. Mouths are, therefore, universal 
within the range of our observation, but in such 
unlimited variety that but a few of the most inter- 
esting types can even be hinted at within a single 
chapter. For the mouth is the index of the food, 
and Nature has provided strange foods for some 
of her hungry children. Few places will be 
found so barren that they do not support some 
form of eaters, big or little, and few foods are 
I 67 



68 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

so repellent to our ideas as not to tempt 
some eager appetites. It is merely a matter of 
taste and adaptability. After all we can hardly 
judge for others. "How can you eat such 
stuff?" we might inquire of the vulture at his 
carrion meal, and we can imagine him replying 
indignantly: "I find it nourishing, wholesome 
and good!" Eeally such an argument is un- 
answerable. One of the humorous papers sup- 
plies the picture of a bird bargaining with a 
squirrel, which has- just collected a store bf 
nuts — "Say, Mister, what '11 you take for the 
worms you find in those nuts?" — which ex- 
presses the idea of contrasting tastes very well. 
The writer remembers standing once upon a 
muddy corner and watching an unkempt little 
dog-waif which had caught sudden sight of a 
bone lying in the gutter not far away. Some 
shreds of meat were still clinging to it but it 
looked like ancient refuse, and what with its 
coating of mud a more unappetizing morsel 
could hardly be imagined. Nevertheless the 
little starveling crept toward it with timid 
eagerness and an anxious glance toward his 
human companion that said as plainly as words 
could have done: "Such a lovely bone must 
be a great temptation to you, but please don't 
take it for I'm so hungry." 

And so with the horse munching his oats, the 
snake bolting whole an unchewed frog or the 



MOUTHS 69 

ant-eater raiding a colony of his chosen prey: 
everywhere there is variety in taste, and with 
it just the variation in the month and its fur- 
nishings best suited to supply that taste. In 
fact the subject is so fruitful that we shall con- 
sider the mouths of birds in a separate Chapter 
on "Bills," and make chapters also of "Teeth" 
and of "Tongues." 

In general the animals are divided by their 
foods into the Carnivorous, or flesh eaters; the 
Herbivorous, or eaters of vegetation; with an 
additional subordinate class known as Omniv- 
orous, or eaters of both flesh and vegetation. 
Necessarily the first group are largely Hunters, 
although including some carrion eaters which 
do not usually kill for themselves, and the 
Herbivorous include most of the Hunted crea- 
tures ; but it is not easy to classify these merely 
by their mouths, if we exclude the teeth. It 
may merely be stated in passing that the latter 
class have in general much better development 
of lips than the former. This will be more fully 
considered in the following paragraphs. 

THE CAT'S MOUTH 

It seems natural to start again with the cat 
as in several preceding chapters. Pussy is so 
typical and so easily studied that our thoughts 
seek her freely for illustration, and we always 
remember that her near relatives include many 



70 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

of the mightiest hunters of the forest and jungle. 
She looks the picture of innocent harmlessness 
as she lies curled up on the rug: then drowsi- 
ness overcomes her and she yawns. What a 
yawn ! Where is the harmlessness of a moment 
ago? Suppose one were a mouse and saw that 
sudden, frightful cavern with its tremendous 
spread and its cruel fangs! Would not that 
yawn be one of the most terrifying spectacles in 
nature? 

Compared with the widest spread of a horse's 
jaws the opening possible to the cat tribe is ex- 
traordinary. The whole head seems little more 
than an enclosure of the mouth; and the 
bunches of muscles on either side indicate the 
crushing power with which the jaws may be 
closed. Naturally all of this speaks to us of 
food and habits. The cats must catch, kill and 
tear. Their jaws are not intended for the 
grinding side-swing of the horse or cow in chew- 
ing, but have great closing or biting power; so 
it is not surprising that they can so often kill 
even large prey with a single bite. This 
strength of jaw also enables them to pick up 
and carry away heavy carcasses, it being their 
instinct to eat their kill in secluded places. 
One writer tells us that "one of these terrible 
animals (lions) has been known to pick up a 
heifer in its mouth and to leap over a wide ditch 
still carrying its burden." 



MOUTHS 



71 



However, the cat family has no monopoly of 
jaw power. The gorilla has the strength to 
crack nuts with its teeth and the hyena will per- 
form still greater feats. Speaking of the lat- 







mm ^M:wm 4 





Hi 1 \ Hi» 



;-•-• 






Tite Liox's Mighty Jaws 



ter, Sir Samuel Baker, the African explorer, 
wrote: "I can safely assert that the bone- 
cracking power of this animal is extraordinary. 
I cannot say that it exceeds the lion or tiger in 
the strength of its jaws, but they will leave 



72 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

bones unbroken which a hyena will crack in 
halves. Its powers of digestion are unlimited. 
It will swallow and digest a knuckle bone with- 
out giving it a crunch, and will crack the thigh- 
bone of a buffalo to obtain the marrow, and 
swallow either end immediately thereafter." 

THE HOUSE'S MOUTH 

As already hinted, the horse's mouth forms 
a considerable contrast to the hunting jaws of 
the cat. This is seen most conspicuously in 
the teeth, which must be left to another chap- 
ter, but there are other points worth noting. 
The horse's mouth, like that of most grazing 
animals, is placed at one end of a long head, 
at the other end of which are the eyes and 
ears; so that these sentry organs need not be 
buried in the grass in feeding. His mouth is 
also much smaller in proportion than those 
of the hunting animals and does not have so 
wide an opening, nor such powerful muscles. 
This in itself is evidence that it does not need 
to enclose such large objects, nor to bite so 
hard, and in fact we find that the horse feeds 
upon finely divided substances like oats, blades 
of grass and the like. In their methods of 
eating the two are very unlike. The cat bolts 
her food in a succession of gulps, while the 
horse munches slowly and steadily, grinding his 



MOUTHS 



73 



food with a side-swinging motion which the 
cat's jaws do not provide for. 

The lips, too, are significant. Everyone 
knows how slightly these are developed in the 
cat and how thick and firm are those of the 








The Horse's Firmly-Lipped Mouth 



horse. This points to the difference hetween 
the chewing and the tearing animal. The horse 
gathers the grass or the oats into his mouth with 
the assistance of his strong lips, retaining the 
mouthful while it is thoroughly ground and 
mixed with saliva before swallowing. Without 



74 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

these tightly closing lips it would be difficult 
to keep a mouthful of this character from run- 
ning out again during so slow a process. 

THE MANATEE'S MOUTH 

Sometimes in an aquarium will be found a 
big, logy, shapeless creature like an elongated 
leather bolster on a large scale, in a tank 
labelled "Manatee, or Sea Cow." It is gener- 
ally so sluggish, keeping down in the shadow of 
its tank so persistently that we get little 
chance to examine its strange mouth, but could 
we see it feeding in its native southern waters 
we would observe a curious lip action far ex- 
celling that of the horse. While the horse 
grasps its forage with two lips the manatee 
manages the same feat with one. This sounds 
hardly credible, but examination proves that the 
upper lip is provided with a pair of fleshy pads 
which have the power to spread sidewise and 
draw together again, thereby gathering and 
holding mouthful s of the water vegetation upon 
which the creature feeds. 

THE ALLIGATOK'S MOUTH 

In the same waters with the manatee will 
sometimes be found one of the most formidable 
mouths in nature, used with terrible effect by 
the alligator or its near cousin, the crocodile. 



MOUTHS 



75 



Tourists returning from Florida are fre- 
quently beguiled into bringing back with them 
specimens of the baby alligator. These unlovely 
little beasts, consisting largely of mouth and 
tail generally survive but a short time in their 
new homes, but in that time are apt to give ex- 
hibitions of the savage temper which has made 




The Jagged Grip of the Alligator's Jaws 



the race famous. To see the tiny bit of black 
leather, not much longer than a lead pencil open 
its surprising proportion of mouth and snap 
viciously at- a stick is rather amusing, but mul- 
tiplied into the size of a full-grown 'gator the 
amusement vanishes. Or if one allows the little 
pin-point teeth to fasten upon his finger he gets 
an idea of the race's instinctive, bull-dog grip 
for the little fellow will allow himself to be lifted 



76 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

and will hang suspended until the mouth is — not 
too easily — forced open. This also ceases to 
be humorous when pictured in terms of an adult 
animal. 

In truth the mouth is a really formidable 
affair on a large specimen, with tremendously- 
muscled jaws opening to a point well back of 
the eyes, and with a waved outline which 
gives added security to the grip of the tusk-like 
teeth. Imagine the steel-trap snap of these ter- 
rible jaws and it can be seen how small is the 
victim's chance of escape, for the alligator's 
custom is to drag its victim at once beneath the 
surface where drowning soon and mercifully 
completes the killing. So powerful are large 
specimens that crocodiles will occasionally at- 
tack even the lion or tiger coming to drink, while 
the comparatively puny human being is fre- 
quently devoured. 

A missionary to the Congo relates seeing one 
such tragedy within her first half hour after 
reaching the mission station. Some native boys, 
although warned by teachers, disobediently went 
into the water for a swim, and hearing an outcry 
she rushed to the door just in time to see one 
of them dragged below the surface. His 
mangled body was later recovered through the 
united efforts of the men. In general, however, 
these mighty saurians do not relinquish their 
prey but devour it at their leisure, as it must first 



MOUTHS 77 

be torn into fragments to fit the small size of 
their gullets. As stated in the Chapter on 
Noses the alligator has a special arrangement of 
its air passages, and can open its mouth beneath 
the surface without taking water into its breath- 
ing apparatus. It has also special valves to pre- 
vent the water running down its throat at such 
times. 

Herodotus tells us of a bird which does not hes- 
itate to enter the opened mouth of the crocodile 
in order to pick off the troublesome parasites, and 
is never molested by the grateful monster. This 
was long supposed to be fabulous, but modern 
observers have discovered a species of snipe 
which runs over the creature's broad back in 
search of insects and leeches, and even picks 
from his teeth and gums such parasites or 
shreds of food as it can find. 

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS'S MOUTH * 

Another cavernous mouth yawns up at us from 
those African lakes and rivers where the ponder- 
ous hippopotamus feeds. It is one of the sights 
of the Zoo when a captive "hippo" expresses his 
weariness with tiresome civilization by splitting 
his mighty head asunder in a yawn of such pro- 
portions that one gazes fascinated. Such a 
mouth upon a living creature ! But perhaps we 
should turn this into a query — why such a 
mouth ? 



78 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

"Well, it requires a fairly roomy mouth to 
house the great cutting tusks — more like agri- 
cultural implements than teeth — and to operate 
them in severing the reeds and other river 
growth upon which their owner feeds. It re- 
quires also a large mouth to hold a mouthful 
which is big enough to be "worth while" to such 
a frame; for the hippo has no mere 150 lbs. to 
nourish, but occasionally 4 tons or more. He 
must be provided for liberally and if he possess 
an appetite proportionate to his bulk, his mouth 
should most naturally correspond to his appe- 
tite. 

The big fellow is not entirely popular with 
the natives, being rather too much interested in 
their fields of corn and sugar-cane where his 
clumsy feet tread down as much as he devours. 
He is also a dangerous antagonist in the water 
unless one is armed with modern fire-arms, and 
an old bull frequently possesses a savage temper 
to match his formidable jaws. 

THE WHALE'S MOUTH 

But there is one mouth which far eclipses all 
others known to man. Like those of the alliga- 
tor and hippopotamus it belongs to an air- 
breathing, water-loving animal, but unlike them 
its owner never willingly comes ashore. For 
although zoologists tell us that the whale may 
have been in past ages a land animal, which 



MOUTHS 79 

through pursuing its prey into the sea, came to 
live more and more in the waters, it has long 
ceased to have the slightest connection with land 
and is as totally marine as are the fishes. Eight 
whales while no longer the subjects of the great 
industry which once supported whole towns, 
are still hunted to some degree, although rarely 
seen in the ordinary lanes of travel. Were one 
to see this gigantic sea mammal, however, he 
would be probably chiefly impressed with a 
mouth so huge and so strange in its appearance 
that no other mouth in nature could be compared 
with it. 

Fancy a mouth fifteen or sixteen feet in length 
and of great width with side lips on the lower 
jaw and the most curious fringe-like substance 
hanging from the upper jaw; the whole vast 
chasm ending in a gullet of but iy 2 inches in 
diameter. What food can it be designed for? 

We might, not unreasonably, suppose that this 
monster fed upon larger sea creatures and 
needed a mouth sufficiently large to enclose them, 
but that he has no teeth with which to tear or 
grind, and as to swallowing them whole, there 
is that absurdly small gullet to consider. Then 
again we cannot overlook the fringe-like sub- 
stance already spoken of, and familiar to us as 
the whale-bone of commerce. This whale-bone, 
or baleen, hangs in hundreds of horny plates, 
sometimes seven or eight feet broad where 



80 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



joined to the jaws, ten feet or more in length 
and set closely side by side, so that only the 
edge of each plate is seen from the outside, while 
the inner edge fringes into hair-like fibers that 
interlace until the whole forms a wonderful 
natural sieve. A sieve — that word is the key 
to the food problem of the right whale, for this 
vastest of creatures feeds upon almost the tini- 
est of visible life — a strange paradox of nature 
surely. In the arctic waters he frequents, are 
to be found inconceivable millions of minute 
shell-fish, sometimes seen floating in broad bands 
miles in length, upon the ocean's surface. 
Through these multitudes plunges the whale, his 
mouth engulfing water and crustaceans like a 
mighty scoop, and then the raising of a tongue 
of a ton or two in weight slowly forces the water 
through the fringed strainer until only its living 
freight remains to slide down the narrow throat 
into the waiting stomach. One cannot calculate 
the numbers necessary to provide even one 
square meal for twenty or thirty yards of whale 
but lavish nature has provided enough and to 
spare. 

There is, however, another whale mouth which 
contrasts sharply with that of the right whale 
("right" by-the-way is the whaler's designation 
of the species most profitable to hunt — all others 
being naturally "wrong") and this is the mouth 



; 



MOUTHS 81 

of his equally huge cousin the sperm whale. 
Here are no high, enfolding lips and no whale- 
bone. Here, on the other hand, are strong teeth 
in the lower jaw and a very large gullet capable 
of swallowing as much as a six-foot cube — or 
even a Jonah if necessary. The lower jaw is 
thin enough to be capable of great movement and 
can be dropped at almost a right angle to the 
head, thus giving considerable biting power. 
All of this points to «a difference in diet and we 
are not surprised to hear that the sperm whale 
takes heavy toll of the world of fishes ; but it is 
from the strange, uncanny tribe of cuttle-fish 
and squids that he gets his choicest meals, and 
these boneless creatures, some of them of great 
size, are eagerly gulped down whole or bitten 
and swallowed as their size requires. 

THE SHARK'S MOUTH 

Having once embarked among the creatures 
of the populous sea there are endless strange 
mouths to claim our attention, while the limits 
of time and space compel us to yield it to but 
few. Among these the shark is one which ap- 
peals strongly to the popular imagination, and 
has come to be a synonym for all that is greedy, 
fierce and ruthless. Superstitious sailors at sea 
shudder when one of these monsters is seen to 
be following the ship, as they not infrequently 



82 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

do, thinking it to mean that one of their number 
will die or fall overboard to feed him. 

It has been claimed by some naturalists who 
have cultivated his acquaintance, that the shark 
has been slandered, and is really less savage 
than many other fishes. However, the shark 
family includes many varieties, some of which 
are comparatively harmless. While others are 
not averse to human flesh, it must be remembered 
that man in the water is out of his element and 
an easy prey for any flesh-eater of sufficient size. 

The shark seems rather handicapped than 
otherwise by a crescent-shaped mouth, set be- 
neath a projecting snout, and requiring him to 
turn upon back or side in seizing food; an ob- 
vious disadvantage if the prey be agile. For 
this reason the shark is more especially a sea 
scavenger, greedily bolting vast quantities of 
refuse and offal, under the special guidance of 
his strange little companion, the pilot-fish, whose 
mission in life it seems to be to lead the big 
fellow to food supplies. The persistent follow- 
ing of a ship is undoubtedly due to the refuse 
thrown overboard from the ship's galley rather 
than to any expectation of disaster among the 
crew. 

The shark's mouth gains an added look of 
menace from its many rows of teeth, which must 
be left for a later Chapter. 



MOUTHS 83 



Nearly allied to the sharks are the ray group, 
which hardly seem fish, so extraordinary is their 
form. Of great thinness and a broad-extending 
flatness their life is naturally upon the water 
bottom. Their mouths are also upon the under 
side as with the shark's but unlike the latter they 
are not active, and may be seen slowly flapping 
their way along the bottom of an aquarium tank 
in a manner that speaks for their habits at 
home. Such conditions indicate that Nature 
must provide their food also upon the bottom, 
and we are, therefore, not surprised to learn 
that many of them subsist chiefly on flat-fish, 
shell-fish and crabs. 

THE ANGLEK-FISH ? S MOUTH 

Living also upon the bottom but with his mouth 
above instead of below is the squat and savage 
angler-fish, than which anything more utterly 
hideous can hardly be imagined. His is a mouth 
in which the upper jaw rises at right angles to 
the extended lower one and its resemblance to 
a steel trap is suggestive of its action. 

From the top of the head rise strange fila- 
ments, the longest of which is provided with a 
small flap of skin at the upper end, and these 
are inconspicuous among the waving seaweed 
where he lies concealed. But let a passing fish 



84 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



carelessly touch this most sensitive "feeler," 
and the huge jaws act instantly and effectively. 
The angler-fish is indeed an animated self-set- 
ting steel trap. It is even assumed that the wav- 



/ 







mm 




m0&s** ,i 



The Angler-Fish's Trap Mouth 

ing flap referred to is a lure to the hungry vic- 
tim, since it may easily have an edible look upon 
first sight. If so the trap is not only set but 
actually baited. 



THE JOHN DOKY 7 S MOUTH 

Hardly less remarkable is the artifice by which 
the John dory makes his captures. Instead of 



MOUTHS 85 

lying in wait, he approaches by stealth somewhat 
after the manner of the cat-tribe when stalking 
their prey, and Nature has granted him, for this 
purpose, two curious provisions. The first is 
an exceptional thinness — a thinness so great that 
seen from the front he is merely a vertical line 
in the water and too inconspicuous to alarm the 
prey, especially as his movements are made by 
a slow fin vibration which disturbs the water 
but slightly. In this way he may often approach 
closely enough to use the amazing second pro- 
vision referred to — nothing less than the power 
to shoot forward an extensible mouth, like the 
sudden opening of a telescope, and enclose his 
victim. 

This same fish, by-the-way, is highly valued 
by epicures and was called "Zeus" by the an- 
cient Greeks as king of edible fish. Tradition 
connects him with the New Testament story of 
finding the tribute money in the mouth of a fish, 
and Mediterranean peasants believe to this day 
that the dark spots upon his sides are marks of 
the fingers of St. Peter. 

THE GAR-PIKE'S MOUTH 

An extraordinary fish mouth suggesting the 
bill of birds is found in the fresh water gar-pike, 
or bony pike. Such a mouth is well adapted 
for seizing, and when its large and savage 
owner rushes from concealment among the 



86 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

river reeds, the hapless prey has slight chance 
to escape the snap of those long-toothed jaws. 

In this method of lying in ambush the gar- 
pike resembles the common pike, of which the 
month is also specialized for seizing, though not 
in such unusual form. 



THE SNAKE'S MOUTH 

But with many curious mouths still untouched 
in the wide waters, we must return again to the 
land, and glance at but one or two of the multi- 
tude there awaiting us. Some reader may have 
chanced upon a snake with an apparently ab- 
normal swelling in the center of its slender body, 
and of course needed not to be told that this 
represented a newly swallowed meal — a frog 
it might be — neither chewed nor torn, but bolted 
whole after the manner of snakes. Eemember- 
ing the elastic nature of skin, muscles and float- 
ing ribs, it occasions no great surprise that the 
snake's body should have stretched itself over 
an object so much greater than its natural diame- 
ter, but like the cucumber in the bottle the 
question is, how did it get in? We know that 
our own jaws are composed of rigid bone and 
when they have opened to the extent of their 
hinge can go no farther without injury. Clearly 
this rule with even the snake's wide mouth 
would limit it to much smaller objects than it 
frequently swallows, but the mystery clears itself 



MOUTHS 87 

away when we examine the skeleton. There 
must of necessity be a point where the bones of 
the skull will give way, and we find that point 
in the front of the lower jaw which consists 
of two bones unjoined, save for the elastic tis- 
sues in which they are imbedded, unlike the 
solid bone of ours. These bones are, therefore, 
capable of spreading widely, and when the snake 
has seized its prey the jaw is forced forward one 
side at a time, then the teeth are hooked into the 
flesh and the jaws drawn backward. This proc- 
ess repeated, slowly forces the victim down the 
elastic throat, although the snake's head loses 
all appearance of being a head, while so en- 
gaged. 

THE SQUIRREL'S MOUTH 

There is a class of pocket-mouths which must 
not be overlooked in even this restricted survey, 
and the squirrel is probably its most familiar 
example. That furry little bunch of impudence 
has a wise habit of storing away nuts for winter 
use and these nuts must be carried to the hidden 
storehouse. Since he requires all four feet for 
the perilous journey over tree limbs, and there 
is no room for a pocket in his elegantly-fitting 
suit, Nature has provided him with highly elastic 
cheeks which serve that purpose. An observ- 
ing city boy in the country might think the squir- 
rels subject to fearful attacks of mumps during 



88 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

nutting season, but the country lad could tell 
him that the swellings merely represented nuts 
in transit. 

Some of the monkeys and various burrowing 
rodents are also possessors of cheek pouches. 
The common little pocket gophers found in many 
parts of the West have cheek pouches which open 
on the outside and are sometimes crammed with 
spare food. When wishing to call upon this food 
supply it is only necessary to press the feet 
against the cheeks from behind until the food is 
forced out upon the ground in front. 

THE HUMAN MOUTH 

There are mouths without number still un- 
considered, but the subject must be left at some 
point, and the human mouth will do for a final 
exhibit. Man focuses in his mouth so far as 




The Expressive Human Lips 

appearance goes. Ask an artist which is the 
most expressive feature and he will tell you it 
is not the eye but the mouth. 

A portrait may take no little liberty with the 



MOUTHS 89 

eye, but let one vary the length, thickness or 
angle of either lip ever so slightly and the like- 
ness vanishes in a flash. For this reason, it is 
easier to get a likeness of a man who wears a 
heavy mustache than of one smooth-faced or of 
a woman, and this possibility of endless slight 
variation may answer the frequent question as 
to how so many millions of faces are possible 
without actual duplicates. 

It is not surprising that the mouth should be 
full of character marks considering its con- 
stant use. Even when one is not talking the 
emotions passing through his mind are apt to 
be reflected upon this most flexible feature. 
The nose, and even the eye, have comparatively 
little range; but mirth, sarcasm, decision, 
doubt, discouragement, brutality and much be- 
side, show easily upon the lips. It is often 
pathetic to note how speedily the "cupid's 
bow" of the little child's mouth is exchanged 
for the hard lines of maturer years : this is un- 
doubtedly due to the great flexibility which 
serves to make it the reflex of the most familiar 
mental states. No other animal has such ex- 
pressive flexibility just as no other animal has 
such variety of mental action. 

Viewed in its most important physical 
capacity, that of food-port, the first point to 
strike our notice is that man's mouth is strongly 
lipped and has no great opening power as com- 



90 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

pared with that of the cat, for example. This 
indicates that man chews instead of tearing his 
food, thus classing him in general with the 
Hunted Animal group ; for man at least neither 
hunts nor seizes with his mouth. 

This matter of thorough mastication, more 
properly to be considered under " Teeth," is 
one which is highly vital to the health, as is 
coming to be generally recognized, and Nature 
encourages it in a most interesting way by pla- 
cing all of the sense of taste within the mouth. 
To enjoy a pleasant flavor to the full one must 
retain it in the mouth as long as possible, for 
once swallowed it passes beyond the range of 
the taste. This same delay of swallowing is 
also an important guard against receiving 
poisonous or unwholesome food. As explained 
in a previous Chapter (Noses) our food supply 
must usually run the gauntlet of four of the 
five senses — so discreet is Nature — and it does 
not enter the stomach until sight, touch, smell 
and taste have passed upon its availability. 
Even at the last moment the tiny, hanging soft- 
palate may challenge it in the very act of swal- 
lowing, and call for a swift, convulsive action 
which saves the stomach from its presence. 
One is lost in admiration for the wonderful pro- 
visions for our well-being which the slightest 
study reveals. 

But man, though an animal, is much more than 



MOUTHS 91 

animal, and indispensable as is his mouth from 
a physical standpoint, it is perhaps even more 
important as the servant of that higher mental 
and spiritual self, which should dominate his 
physical being. This phase of his nature re- 
quires a means of expression, and this is fur- 
nished chiefly through the agency of the mouth. 
Animals have some variation in their calls, but 
when compared to the range and modifications 
of the human voice, these are but crude at best. 
This is not the place to go into any technical 
discussion of the way in which the vibrations 
of the vocal chords are given various shades and 
keys by the control of the air chamber of the 
mouth cavity, nor of how the tongue, teeth and 
lips are employed to form these sounds into 
articulate speech, but communication with our 
kind is chiefly due to this same wonderful con- 
trivance whose complexity compared with the 
rest of the animal world is another proof of 
man's right to be placed at the head of the 
kingdom. 




CHAPTEE V 

TONGUES 

ND in the mouth is a 
tongue. Shall we pass 
it with such simple 
statement seeing that 
this is a small mem- 
ber, generally con- 
cealed, or shall we halt 
and probe it with our 
"Why"! 

History has not overlooked the importance of 
the tongue. Small as it is, it has given its name 
to the languages of the earth, small as it is, the 
greatest consequences have often hung upon a 
moment's use of it, and in the Bible we read: 
"But the tongue can no man tame; it is an 
unruly evil, full of deadly poison." 

Unquestionably we realize that all of this is 
in a figurative sense, but curiosity is aroused 
nevertheless to the point of trying whether a 
little simple deduction may not throw interest- 
ing light, as already in the case of Eyes, Noses, 
Ears and Mouths. 

92 



TONGUES 93 



THE CAT'S TOXGTJE 



We have already noticed that the cat has but 
slight lip development and this affects the tongue 
in two ways. First as to drinking. A horse 
will plunge his nose into the water where his 
firm lips make it possible to set up a consider- 
able suction. But the cat cannot so drink. She 
would die of thirst were it not for the swift 
darts of that little flexible tongue which curls 
over at the tip as it enters the fluid and draws 
it back into her mouth. So little can be secured 
at each lap that one might think this a slow, 
hard method, but for the speed with which she 
empties a saucer of milk. 

"When you let her lick your finger you feel 
a dry roughness as of a tiny file. This, too, 
is a reflection of the construction of her mouth 
and the consequent manner of feeding. A cat 
is not fitted for chewing. She does not re- 
tain the food in her mouth and reduce it to a 
pulp before swallowing, but deals often with 
bones too large to swallow from which she must 
tear the flesh with her teeth. This is apt to 
leave sundry shreds too precious to be wasted 
and these may be rasped off by the action of 
the roughened tongue until the well-polished 
bone is bare of nourishment. In lions and tigers 
this tongue rasp is so powerful as to break the 
human skin, and stories are told of tamed lions 



94 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



which have had their first taste of man's blood 
and grown suddenly savage through licking their 
master's hands. 







. **%n 



^^S^ssSf^i 






^aSSS&K^^^*'*^ 











The Cat's Flexible Tongue 

The cat, as is well known, is daintily clean. 
Long, elaborate toilets are frequently made and 
the tongue is the washrag employed, for she ap- 
pears not at all squeamish about taking into her 



TONGUES 95 

month dirt which, she will not tolerate upon her 
coat. The tongue's roughness has its obvious 
value for cleaning. 

THE HORSE'S TONGUE 

"With the horse the tongue becomes a very dif- 
ferent kind of member, decidedly thicker and less 
flexible. The mouth is also much moister and 
the reason for these differences is apparent from 
the contrast in the manner of eating and drink- 
ing. As already stated the horse has no need of 
a lapping tongue nor of one which will aid in pol- 
ishing a bone. He will look with entire indiffer- 
ence upon a bone at which a cat's eyes would 
gleam, while she would sniff contemptuously at 
the bag of oats for which his mouth would water. 
It is well, indeed, that his mouth should water so 
freely since a bag of oats would seem but dry 
fare to us. AVe must have our oatmeal long 
boiled to make it palatable, while the horse, his 
nose buried deep, will munch away contentedly, 
grinding and salivating his mouthful, and need- 
ing the tongue merely for the fundamental 
tongue use of moving the food about in his mouth 
until it is thoroughly chewed and then aiding 
in the swallowing. 

THE WHAEE's TOXGUE 

In our Chapter on Mouths we examined the 
manner in which the right whale gains his food, 



96 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

so we shall only pause at his tongue long enough 
to note its vast size — a ton or two in weight- — 
its substance so soft that it may be easily in- 
dented, and the fact that it is attached for its 
entire length so that it cannot be extended. It 
seems to be used merely as the mighty plunger 
which forces out the watery part of each mouth- 
ful in order that the tiny morsels may be en- 
tangled in the strainer of baleen, or whalebone. 

This tongue is itself a morsel much appreci- 
ated by the orcas, or killers, those savage thugs 
of the sea which sometimes attack the monster 
in organized hunting gangs and endeavor espe- 
cially to tear out his tongue. 

THE GIRAFFE'S TONGUE 

It is rather hard to realize that the whale and 
giraffe are to be classed in the same group of 
Mammals. One is absolutely without neck which 
the other has to the extent of several yards ; the 
limbs of one have been modified into flippers, 
while the other looks as though walking on stilts ; 
and in the matter of tongues the soft, clumsy 
mass of the whale contrasts with a most remark- 
able member which can be far extended or with- 
drawn, thickened up or narrowed down to an 
end no thicker than a lead pencil, and curled so 
as to grasp with its tip. 

Nor is the reason far to seek. Ladies wan- 
dering too near to the giraffes in the managerie 




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TONGUES 97 

have sometimes lost leaves from their hats by 
the action of that dexterous tongue and the 
giraffe in his native Africa so obtains the more 
nourishing leaves of the tree-tops. Poking his 
head among the branches or reaching over the 
wide top of a spreading " camel thorn," he can 
pluck them as deftly with his tongue as could 
one of us by hand. 

THE AXT-EATER'S TONGUE 

The ant-eater whose extraordinary nose 
claimed our attention in the Chapter on Noses 
is another creature to gain his living with his 
tongue. When he has torn open an ant-hill there 
is the problem of obtaining a sufficient number 
of the excited, rushing particles to constitute 
a meal. He cannot do this with his clumsy feet 
nor yet with his tiny mouth and he really might 
have his trouble for nothing were it not for 8 
or 9 inches of slender, flexible tongue which looks 
like a big earthworm. This twists its way into 
the passage tunnels of the little builders or 
wipes them up on the ground by regiments and 
brigades. It seems to be a somewhat disputed 
point among scientists as to whether this tongue 
in common with that of the manis and some 
other ant-feeders is or is not covered with a 
sticky secretion. The fact remains, at all events, 
that it is entirely effective for its purpose, and 
the poor little ants could they have any image of 



98 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

the "Grim Reaper" might well make him in the 
form of a brush-tailed, claw-footed, long-mouthed 
ant-eater, with a worm-like tongue in place of 
a scythe. The armored pangolin or manis has 
also a taste for ants, but extends its glutinous 
tongue across an ant-path until it is covered 
with the insects and then draws in the load. 

THE WOODPECKER'S TONGUE 

Another creature — a bird this time — which 
meets a somewhat similar problem with its 
tongue is our little tree protector, the wood- 
pecker. In these days when the preserva- 
tion of the forests is being recognized as a 
vital necessity, one department of the movement 
might well be directed to the suppression of 
those gun-fools who think it smart to take a shot 
at this invaluable ally, for although his motive 
is the selfish one of food, he is busy every day 
fighting the battle of the trees. How he cuts 
his way into the trunk in search of the borer 
will be discussed in the "Bills" Chapter, but 
that is only half of the story for the borer packed 
in a tight-fitting hole needs a special instrument 
for its extraction; namely, the extremely long, 
slender, pointed and barbed woodpecker's 
tongue. This tongue is hard and sharp enough 
at its tip to transfix the prey which its barbs 
hold securely in withdrawing. Saliva from two 
large glands lubricates its movements and makes 



TONGUES 99 

it sufficiently sticky to capture ants and other in- 
sects too small to be speared. 

There is an interesting arrangement in con- 
nection with this tongue, lying rather outside 
of the range of our observation. This is its 
attachment to the hyoid bones of the throat ; very 




Diagram (after Wood) Showing Barbed Tongue of 
Woodpecker and Hyoid Attachment to Throat 

slender, movable bones which curve backward 
and around the bird's skull and are attached 
at the forehead. Through this wonderful me- 
chanical contrivance the tongue, though not in 
itself extensible like that of the giraffe, may be 
darted out to a great distance by the mere for- 
ward motion of these bones. 

THE HUMMING-BIRD'S TONGUE 

Another bird-tongue with a very similar ex- 
tension arrangement, belongs to the tiniest, 
daintiest member of all the feathered brother- 
hood. The humming-bird has one of the most 
curious of tongues, curled into two rather stiff 
tubes, something like two tiny hollow straws laid 
side by side and attached for about half their 



ioo 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



length. Imagine the straws sharpened at the 
end like the point of a quill pen, and the 
outer edges at the point finely fringed into a 
minute feather or brush and you gain some idea 
of this tiny but important instrument. For the 
hummer, as all know, patronizes deep-throated 
blossoms for the drop of nectar and the small 
insects which it attracts. Here, out of sight of 
the beady eyes, the delicate tongue locates these 

3' $ ,r 







Diagram of Humming-Bird's Tongue (alter Robert Kido- 

way in National Museum Report) 

1. Tongue with free portion separated and membrane spread 

out. 2. End of tongue with membranous fringe curled up 

as in life. 3, 4, 5. Sections through tongue at points 

3', 4', 5'. 6. Tip of one of free portions. (All 

greatly enlarged. ) 

several dainties and either draws them up, as 
one would sip lemonade through a straw or wipes 
them up with the feathered filaments, according 
to size. 

The honey-eaters of the Old World have a 
tongue developed at its end into a veritable 
brush with which to gather nectar from cup- 
shaped blossoms. So too have the "brush- 
tongued" parrots. 



TONGUES 101 



THE PARROT'S TONGUE 



With most parrots, on the other hand, the 
tongue is chib-like. It is hard to realize that a 
bill so thick and a tongue so clumsy can belong 
to a bird with such powers of mimicry until we 
watch Polly closely enough to see that her speech 
comes from her throat. It never occurs to her 
that tongue tips were made to talk with, but in 
still further observation you will see how well 
that strong, chunky member serves in pressing 
a sunflower seed from its husk, or in reducing 
any other morsel before swallowing. Parrots 
masticate instead of bolting their food like chick- 
ens, and the action of the tongue against the 
inside of the upper mandible, as well as the 
scraping use of the lower mandible are in the 
nature of chewing. 

The tongue is also used cleverly in prehension 
for handling objects between itself and the upper 
mandible, being muscular and having a nail-like 
formation on the under side. Furthermore it 
is a delicate organ of touch. 

THE TOAD'S TONGUE 

The toad appears so utterly phlegmatic that 
one might almost fancy eating a matter of indif- 
ference to him. Possessing no teeth and no neck 
to speak of, with stumpy little front legs, clawless 
toes, and a squat, clumsy body he seems poorly 



102 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD . 

fitted for the capture of insects — particularly the 
many flying kinds which find their way inside 
his warty skin. But wait, he has a tongue! 
That explains it. Sometimes if you are as pa- 
tient as a Nature student should be, you may 
chance to be watching the inert little fellow when 
some careless insect ventures too near, and sud- 
denly — there is no insect. The toad has not 
changed his position and were it not for certain 
slight movements of satisfaction in his throat 
might seem to have been unaware of the occur- 
rence. What has happened is that the insect 
has been captured by a remarkably extensible, 
sticky tongue which struck it with unerring aim 
and the speed of thought. This tongue, unlike 
all of those heretofore considered, is not attached 
in the throat but at the front of the upper jaw 
and lies with its free end pointing backward. 
Thus it is not darted out like the woodpecker's 
but snapped forward like those stinging rubber 
bands of our school days. 

Its effectiveness is shown by the fact that in- 
sect collectors sometimes catch toads in the very 
early morning and kill them to examine the con- 
tents of the stomach. These, turned out upon 
the surface of water, float apart and in the mass 
of yet undigested insect bodies may often be 
found night species which are rare and difficult 
of capture. 

The quaint and diminutive chameleon — he of 






TONGUES 103 

the changeable coat and absurdly slow move- 
ments—has another form of missile-tongue, 
"like a pop-gun cork at the end of a string," 



) 




The Chameleon's Pop-Gux Toxgue 

and he can shoot it out with lightning precision 
for as much as six inches in capturing insects. 

THE SHAKE'S TONGUE 

It is fascinating to stand before the glass 
front of a cage of snakes and watch the slow, 
sinuous grace of the gliding movements. Fre- 
quently, as we watch, there is the flickering dart 
and play of a forked, threadlike tongue, shot out 
and withdrawn through a small hole in front 
without opening the jaws. This has such an un- 
canny look in connection with the baleful glitter 
of the lidless eyes that it is not surprising to 
find ignorant people fearing it as poisonous when, 
as a matter of fact, it is less dangerous than the 
tongue which slanders it. 

Here is no capturing, chewing, sucking, rasping 
nor lapping tongue. It is far too delicate to 
serve such mechanical use, but its activity and 
the mouth provision for its constant use, show 



104 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



its importance to the snake. The spreading 
fork is also significant. It proves to be, in fact, 
a sensitive organ of touch by which the reptile, 
moving often in the dark, may explore its way, 
somewhat as the fixed whiskers of the cat help 
to keep their owner out of awkward places. Fur- 







The Snake's Inquisitive Tongue 

thermore it assists in examining an object of food 
before the snake commits itself to the act of 
swallowing, and here the double touch of the 
fork gives a much better idea of bulk and shape 
than would be possible to the feeling of a single 
point. 

It seems probable that the snake may occa- 



TONGUES 105 

sionally use its darting motion to threaten ene- 
mies — in truth it is a bit terrifying — just as the 
toad will puff or the frilled lizard extend its frills 
when showing resentment. -Some scientists have 
the further idea that the tongue is sensitive to 
the testing of air vibration. 

THE HUMAN TONGUE 

But what of that tongue which most concerns 
you — that tongue which gets you into trouble 
and out of it— which the doctor asks to see when 
he places an inquiring finger upon your wrist; 
which assists you in the pleasures of eating and 
helps to unite you through the medium of speech 
to your fellow beings ? The human tongue is at 
least as interesting as any thus far considered. 
And let it be said in passing that we have con- 
sidered these others only for their most obvious 
peculiarities of use, chiefly of a mechanical na- 
ture. It must not be thought that they are with- 
out the power of taste simply because that point 
has been reserved for this division. 

Stand before a mirror in a strong light, open 
your mouth and examine the strange, red, mus- 
cular member which lies back of your teeth. 
Stretch out its broad flat length and see what an 
admirable floor for the food it makes. Curl the 
tip downward or upward, retract it, thicken it 
to a narrow chunk, roll it over to right and left, 
dart it in and out, explore with it the interior 



106 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

of the lips and cheeks and the surfaces of all 
the teeth. Had you ever fully realized how mar- 
velously active and flexible it could be? Place 
your finger upon its surface and try to hold it 
down when you will to raise it and learn its mus- 
cular power. All of this indicates that the hu- 
man tongue has its mechanical uses, too, and 
we know from every day experience how it moves 
the food about until it has been thoroughly 
ground and mixed with saliva and then gathers 
it from all parts of the mouth and presses it 
backward for swallowing. With some of the 
softer foods even the teeth are not called into 
use and the entire process is carried on by the 
tongue against the roof of the mouth. 

And now stretch out your tongue again and 
examine it very closely. Its surface is seen to 
be roughened with fine rows of those tiny pro- 
jections known as "conical papillae/' and sup- 
posed to be for the purpose of touch, while 
sprinkled about are distinct little white lumps 
called "fungiform papillae" believed to be inti- 
mately connected with the sense of taste. The 
few large " circumvallate papillae" lie too far 
back to be within view. This whole sense of 
taste, as already noted under "Mouths," has 
great value in protecting us from unwholesome 
foods, in stimulating the flow of saliva needed 
for digestion, and in tempting us to retain the 
food in our mouths until thoroughly ground and 



TONGUES 107 

mixed before swallowing. The tongue as the 
chief taste organ is thus of great importance 
aside from its mechanical uses. 

And finally there is that great function of 
speech which so distinguishes the human family 
from the lower orders. "Without the tongue it 
would be still possible to make inarticulate noises 
and these by their force or inflection might con- 
vey certain rudimentary emotions such as one 
may suppose the animals to feel, but all of the 
wonderful structure of spoken language, all of 
the delicate shades of communication by which 
our most subtle thoughts are conveyed in speech 
to fellow beings, all of the beauty of pronunci- 
ation and much of the loveliness of the singing 
voice are directly dependent upon this same ver- 
satile member; instrument not only of man's 
physical nature but of his highest mental and 
spiritual powers. 



CHAPTEE VI 



TEETH 




HE subject of Teeth, scien- 
tifically considered, is so 
technical and bristles with 
such a bewildering array 
of many-syllabled names 
that the amateur may well 
hesitate to venture upon 
it, for it is rather stagger- 
ing to come upon such 
terms as "RodentiaDuplicidentata,"or"Homol- 
odontotherium. " Teeth are of especial value to 
the Zoologist in classifying for two reasons : first, 
animal habits are principally influenced by the 
foods they seek, so that a glance at the teeth 
tells a plain story to the experienced eye; and 
secondly, teeth are so hard that they frequently 
endure long after flesh and even bones have de- 
cayed. Thus when we turn our thoughts back to 
the dim distance of that almost incalculable past 
before what is known as the "Tertiary Period," 
our sole knowledge of the mammal life of the 
day comes from examining a few lower jaws 

108 



TEETH 109 

and a considerable number of teeth found im- 
bedded in certain rock formations. Slight ma- 
terial it would seem — yet it has revealed much. 

Our methods ? however, are not to be technical 
and therefore will deal but slightly with Latin 
names and dental formulae while we see whether 
the "amateur detective" process may not again 
throw some degree of light upon inquiries. 

We all know that teeth come in contact with 
food at the very beginning of that process which 
leads at last to digestion and nourishment, and 
this means, of course, that most foods are not 
fitted for immediate swallowing. What needs to 
be done to them and why this jaw-tooth-machine 
assumes so many different forms, will be glanced 
at in considering some of the tooth-bearing ani- 
mals. 

THE CAT'S TEETH 

Whether seen in the ivory flash of a cat's yawn, 
or the snarling gleam of the mounted tiger, there 
is something peculiarly business-like in the ap- 
pearance of feline teeth. Four long, strong, 
sharply pointed, slightly curved canines are the 
most conspicuous. These, set at the front corners 
of the jaws, two above and two below, are so 
plainly designed for piercing that we need not 
stop to question, especially when we notice also 
that the jaws are so short that none of the 
power from the tremendous jaw-muscles need 



110 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLT) 

be wasted and that the front teeth (incisors) are 
too low to check the great penetration of the 
canines. The whole month arrangement seems 
to be especially planned for these fonr large 
fangs, an interesting word, by-the-way, since it 
comes from the German fang en (to catch) and 
that is a large part of the explanation. The 
cat tribe mnst catch since they kill and eat other 
animals. In some cases thes^e animals are of 
considerable size and strength, so that the grip 
of the teeth must have deadly power and pene- 
tration. 

Once killed, the flesh needs to be torn from the 
bones — no easy task with uncooked meat — so 
that here again strength and sharpness are neces- 
sary. The front teeth (incisors) are too small 
to play an important part in this process, but 
farther back in the jaws are certain jagged 
ivories with strong cutting edges which help re- 
duce such fragments as are too large to swallow, 
and also to crush the bones for their rich mar- 
row. 

Our comAon cats usually hunt small prey like 
mice and birds and so have no extreme tooth 
development, but the big tropical cats make an 
impressive display. 

THE HORSE'S TEETH 

When we lift the lip of the horse to examine 
his strong front teeth we see incisors raised 



TEETH 111 

from their minor rank with the cats and given 
an important part to play. Here are two straight, 
even rows closing together firmly with a biting 
edge fitted to seize and break a number of grass 
blades at each mouthful. One realizes that if 
these teeth were at all irregular such small rib- 
bons as blades of grass would pull from between 
them whenever he raised his head. 

The canines having no catching nor tearing 
work to do are not prominent, the upper ones 
being late in development and often not appear- 
ing at all in the mare. Between these and the 
grinders comes a considerable space — a space 
which possibly has made the horse a domestic 
animal — since therein lies the bit when he is 
harnessed. This space also speaks of the ex- 
tremely long jaw as compared with the cat tribe, 
and such length can neither have nor need their 
tremendous biting force. 

Lastly come the molars, not with jagged, cut- 
ting edges, but in shape to really justify their 
name, for "molar" is derived from the Latin 
mola — "a mill." These are true grinding mills 
of an interesting design called selenodont or 
"crescent-toothed" because of the curved folds 
of enamel upon their surface. Tooth enamel is 
a wonderfully hard substance — the hardest sub- 
stance which the body produces — and is placed 
at points of greatest wear: just as an ax head is 
made of ordinary steel save at the bit, or cutting 



112 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 






edge, which is of highly tempered, crucible steel. 
The jaws of animals are really machines and the 
teeth are machine tools charged with the im- 
portant work of preparing food for the soft 

organs and chemical 
processes which di- 
gest it. It is not 
strange, therefore, 
that even the hard 
dentine, or ivory, 
should be faced with 
still harder enamel. 

However, in the 
teeth of the horse 
and other grazing 
animals, this enamel 
is even further 
strengthened by fold- 
ing — as corrugated 
iron is stronger than 
sheet iron — and the 
space between the 
ridges of the folds is 
filled in with a sub- 
stance called cement 
to make it solid. 
Cement is less hard than enamel and wears down 
slightly in use, leaving the curved edges of 
enamel projecting in an irregular pattern which 
makes a wonderfully effective grinding surface, 




Diagram (after Encycl. Bri- 

tannica) of molar of ox 

The Selenodont Type 

Enamel folds shown by heavy 
lines, Dentine by diagonal shad- 
ing, Cementum by cross-shad- 
ing. 






TEETH 



113 



not unlike the sharp ridges of a coffee mill. 
These grinding teeth placed far back in the long 
jaws can exert great pressure, and having the 
power to swing in a side-wise movement, in place 
of the simple up-and-down hinge motion of meat- 
eating animals, the mouthful of oats, hay or 
grass comes in for a thorough grinding and in- 
salivation. 




Skull of Horse 

Showing Strong Incisors, Rudimentary Canine, bit opening and 

great array of Grinders. 

One of the first things a horse fancier will 
do in examining an animal is to look at its 
teeth to judge of its age. This is roughly 
possible because of the single fold of enamel 
in the front teeth, pushed back like the inturned 
end of a glove finger, leaving a cavity which is 
also filled with cement. The cement becomes 
somewhat discolored in use and shows in contrast 



to the white 



of enamel around it. As the 



114 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

horse grows older the tooth wears down and the 
central cavity becomes smaller until at about the 
8th or 9th year it has disappeared, showing that 
the tooth has worn below the fold, after which 
there is no certain indication. 

The order in which the teeth are cut is also of 
value. The first permanent molar appears a lit- 
tle after the end of the first year; the second 
molar before the end of the second year; at 
two-and-one-half years the first pre-molar pushes 
out its predecessor of the "milk" series ; between 
that date and the third birthday comes the first 
permanent incisor; at three years come the sec- 
ond and third pre-molars ; in the first half of the 
fourth year the second incisor is cut ; in the first 
half of the fifth year the canine appears and, 
lastly, at about five the third incisor completes 
the permanent dentition. The "colt" is now 
said to be a "horse," and the "filly" a "mare." 

THE ELEPHANT'S TEETH AND TUSKS 

More complicated still are the great elephant 
molars with their remarkably deep enamel folds. 
Could we cut one of these across lengthwise the 
folds would look not unlike the teeth of a coarse 
comb, so long, narrow and closely set are they; 
thus when the cement filling has worn down a 
trifle their edges make a succession of sharp, 
grinding ridges. With such teeth the elephant 



TEETH 115 

must have a great deal of grinding to do, which 
is indeed the fact for the African species in par- 
ticular, chews up vast amounts of woody fiber, 
such as the roots and branches of certain trees, 
in addition to fruits, bark shoots and other softer 
foods. 

Eidges so hard and long would be years in 
wearing down, even with constant use, but when 
at last they do go, the tooth remnants are cast 
out in front and the wear comes upon the next 
teeth in the series. For the elephant develops 
successively some six great molars on each side 
in each jaw, although those are so large that only 
one, or a portion of two are in use at one time. 
The whole series gradually presses forward to 
present a new tooth when the used one has ceased 
to be of service, and it takes the many years of 
an elephant's life to destroy them all. 

But the elephant has another kind of tooth 
much more familiar to the average observer. 
Talk about prominent teeth — what can com- 
pare with the two huge, curving, upper incisors 
which push their way from near the base of the 
trunk to a length of four, five, six, sometimes 
eight, sometimes even ten feet! There was in- 
deed one aged bull elephant killed near Mount 
Kilimanjaro with a pair of tusks which proba- 
bly exceed all others known to history. One of 
these weighed 228 pounds and sold for $5,000. 
The other nearly equaled it, so that their origi- 



116 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

nal owner had to carry a weight of almost one- 
quarter of a ton of ivory. 

Such tusks are of course entirely abnormal 
and must have been a serious burden to the 
animal, but the average one is of great value in 
gaining food, though not in chewing it. The ten- 
der, juicy inner bark of certain trees must be 
reached by scoring and splitting the outer bark, 
the sought-for roots must be plowed out of 
the soil, or if there be the leafy top of a mimosa 
upon the bill-of-fare it may prove most conven- 
ient to uproot the tree and bring it down. For 
all of these purposes nothing could be more 
valuable than such a long, strong, sharp and 
elastic tusk with just the right degree of curve 
to give it purchase. This elasticity has even 
been something of a misfortune since it has led 
to the use of ivory for billiard balls which has 
been one of the great causes for slaughter. 
Ivory is said to be the most elastic of all sub- 
stances, and if two balls, one of rubber and the 
other of ivory, are dropped from the same 
height the ivory will rebound the higher. 

If you were to examine a separated tusk you 
would find a conical hollow at its base in the 
place of an ordinary tooth-root, indicating that 
the tusk is a much simpler form of structure 
than the great, enamel-ridged molar. The tusk 
is usually without enamel, since the small 
amount at the tip soon wears away, and free 



TEETH 117 

from this hard coating, can grow without re- 
straint. Thus while the grinders wear out in 
slow succession, the tusks may grow larger in 
spite of hard usage, the hollow referred to being 
filled with the "permanent pulp" from which 
new ivory is constantly formed. 

Tusks are, of course, most savage weapons 
at times, although probably less used for this 
purpose than most people imagine, and are of 
value with the trained elephants of India in 
raising and transporting large timbers. 

Possibly the strangest use ever made of these 
great teeth was that of a savage old rogue 
known in captivity as Jumbo II. Having al- 
ready killed several keepers the dangerous brute 
was avoided by all save one favored trainer who 
was on friendly terms, and this trainer con- 
ceived the idea of making the elephant his 
banker. Screwed to the end of each of the 
sawed-off tusks was a hollow brass ball and in 
one of these the man used to deposit his spare 
bills, sometimes to the amount of several hun- 
dred dollars. No safer place could have been 
imagined for the big cashier would have killed 
any other person who dared to approach. 

THE WALRUS'S TUSKS 

Somewhat resembling the elephant's tusks are 
those of that unwieldly sea-monster, the walrus, 
but there are important points of difference in 



118 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

which lie much of the story of the difference in 
their lives and habits. In the first place they 
point downward and slightly backward from the 
upper jaw. So long and sharp are they, so huge 
is their owner, and so high does he carry his 
bristling head that at first sight one might 
think him a savage warrior, the terror of other 
animals in his region. But a little thought 
should show us that such tusks to be used most 
dangerously must strike swiftly downward, and 
that would require a slender, flexible neck which 
this clumsy brute does not possess. In truth 
the walrus is not a particularly savage animal 
unless attacked, when he can make some little 
use of his tusks if the enemy be near enough, 
and what with his great size and extraordi- 
narily thick skin he has little to fear from even 
the polar bear. 

There is another tusk use, which reflection 
may suggest. The walrus like the seal lives out 
of water for a part of the time. It is no easy 
matter to drag such a ponderous shapeless mass 
to a place upon wet rocks or a slippery ice floe. 
If we were in his place we should require some 
means of hooking fast to the surface and would 
appreciate the fact that Nature has supplied in 
these tusks two effective hooks for that very 
purpose. Much as the boatman by striking a 
boat-hook into the timbers of a wharf can pull 




THE WALRUS' FORMIDABLE TUSKS 

Useful as Climbing-Hooks in Mounting Rocks or Ice-Floes, 
Implements in Securing Food, and as Weapons 



as Grubbing 



TEETH 119 

his boat up to it, the walrus by the use of his 
tusks is able to scramble ashore. 

They are also of value in the search for food. 
In the mud where the water is not deep are 
found many forms of small, sluggish marine 
life which may be grubbed up with the tusks and 
these together with sea-weed constitute his daily 
bill-of-fare. Of course he has other teeth 
than these prolonged upper canines, but it is 
not our purpose to go into anything of a de- 
tailed description. From this point on we shall 
satisfy ourselves with the forms and reasons 
of occasional peculiarities in the wide subject of 
Teeth. 

THE NARWHAL'S TUSK 

In the same Arctic seas with the walrus will 
be found that curious member of the whale fam- 
ily which sports a single tusk straight as a walk- 
ing stick, strong, sharp, and five to eight feet in 
length, pointing directly forward from the front 
of its head. Not only is this a tooth (usually 
the left canine, although sometimes the right) 
it is also the only tooth developed, for its fellow 
canine is rudimentary and does not pierce the 
bone of the jaw. Thus it is an exception to that 
general rule that the teeth on both sides must be 
alike. 

A tusk so long and slender would be subject 



120 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

to accident were it not strengthened by being 
spirally twisted for its entire length upon some- 
what the principle of ' ' helical tubing, ' ' and thus 
it makes a formidable weapon which is believed 
by some to be used for the purpose of transfix- 
ing sluggish bottom fish. Yet as the food 
problem must be equally important to the fe- 
male which has no tusk, it seems more proba- 
ble that it is merely one of those of fighting 
weapons which are found in the males of many 
animals. Its food, too, which consists mainly 
of marine mollusks, squids, with only an occa- 
sional fish, accords with its otherwise toothless 
mouth. 

THE DOLPHIN'S TEETH 

But its cousin, the dolphin, has a mouth fur- 
nished in great contrast. Here the long, 
pointed jaws are set with numerous simple teeth 
which are all alike and thus come under the 
class "homodont," in distinction to the "heter- 
odont" — differing teeth of most animals. 
These dolphin teeth, slender, pointed and 
slightly curved, present another good occasion 
for the use of our "why." Clearly they cannot 
be for grinding like the molars of the horse; 
clearly also they have no biting edge like his in- 
cisors. They are too small, and set in jaws too 
long for the tearing or crushing use of the cat- 
tribe, but their curved and pointed shape sug- 



TEETH 121 

gests something of the catching, holding use of 
the cat's fangs. This, too, is emphasized by 
their number and we come logically to the con- 
clusion that the dolphin's prey, while weak, is 
active and hard to hold. Just such prey is 
found in the great schools of mackerel and other 
small fish upon which it feeds. It is also an 
evident advantage to have no grinding teeth 
and be forced to swallow the food entire for 
such fish have many needle-like bones which the 
force of chewing would press into the flesh of 
the mouth. In the stomach they may be harm- 
lessly dissolved by powerful digestive juices. 

THE BOAK'S TUSKS 

Were this a scientific study of teeth, we should 
go into a thorough discussion of the hog's 
forty-four teeth — more than those of any other 
animal in the barnyard — and of the difference 
in shape between his upper and lower incisors, 
or in size between his front and back molars. 
These points prove the hog to be an extreme 
type of "heterodont" and they have to do with 
his taste for many kinds of food ; but since our 
purpose is by no means thorough we shall simply 
glance at some of the interesting tooth varia- 
tions such as those which have armed the old 
boar with his tusks. 

The pig tribe are short-legged and low-bod- 
ied. The snout is carried especially low since 



122 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

it is used in digging. Hence it is not surprising 
that the tusks should grow upward instead of 
downward like those of elephant or walrus, or 
forward like the narwhal's lance. Pig flesh is 
appreciated by many of the four-footed hunters, 
but a well grown boar is able to defend himself 
with surprising ability. Possessed of great 
courage, strength and quickness, his razor-like 
tusks are wielded with such force and fury that 
cases are on record in which he has even killed 
a tiger. In one instance an American wild hog 
did battle with a bear for an hour and the grass 
and bushes of an acre of ground were trampled 
down in the fury of the fight. Finally both re- 
tired blood-streaked and exhausted but the boar 
was the first to return to the fray, and in the 
morning the mangled body of the bear showed 
his antagonist's terrible prowess. His sides 
were ripped open for their entire length and one 
leg nearly amputated. 

Of an African variety an experienced hunter 
says: " There is no pluckier beast in Africa 
than a bush-pig, and even a leopard will hesitate 
before attacking a full-grown boar. Face to 
face in the middle of a 'fast' bush, and only a 
Swazi 'stabbing-assegai' with which to kill 
him, I have seen an old boar after receiving nine 
thrusts from the terrible weapon, two of which 
were still fast in him make a charge that scat- 
tered us like chaff, and in three consecutive 



TEETH 



123 



lunges lame one of our number for life, and dis- 
embowel two of the finest pig-dogs I ever hunted 
with." 

In the great East Indian island of Celebes is 










The Powerful Tusks of the W art-Hog 

found a strange type of hog, named by the 
Dutch "babirousa," or "pig-deer." These, in 
addition to remarkably long and sharp lower 
tusks, have two still longer tusks which grow 
from the upper jaw, but which in place of com- 



124 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

ing out of the month at the sides push through 
the skin on top of the muzzle and grow backward 
with a strong curve. In some cases these have 
grown until they touched the forehead, render- 
ing them useless for weapons. One on record 
measured 14% inches over the curve in addition 
to the end buried in the socket. 

And then there are those hideous creatures of 
South Africa, known as wart-hogs, with great, 
repulsive heads bearing wart-like protuberances 
and armed with amazingly large, strong tusks 
which are said to be of use for tearing and pry- 
ing surface roots from the ground as well as for 
fighting. These sometimes project as much as 
8% inches from the jaw. 

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS'S TUSKS 

Although tusks are more properly teeth which 
project from the mouth, the canines and incisors 
of the " hippo" are of such size that they are 
generally so called. When he opens his vast 
cavern of a mouth there gleams from its red re- 
cesses a bristling armory of such savage-look- 
ing ivories that one is thankful for the stout 
cage bars between. And yet if man would let 
the big "riverhorse" alone he would have little 
to fear from the tusks which do occasionally 
play havoc with the hunter or crush the timbers 
of his boat. The monster is not usually aggres- 
sive save when wounded; and his teeth are for 



TEETH 125 

vegetable fiber instead of flesh. For that pur- 
pose they are remarkably adapted. Coarse 
grass and reeds abound on the edges of African 
lakes and rivers and these in great quantities 
must be harvested in behalf of a stomach which 
holds five or six bushels at a time. The tusks 
so set that they are self-sharpening by con- 
stantly grinding against each other are keen 
harvesting tools and reap grass and thick- 
stemmed reeds almost as neatly as a scythe. 
Unfortunately they are also quite as effective 
in gathering sugar cane and other standing 
crops, and the effect on the mind of a native 
cultivator when he finds that his fields have been 
visited during the night by a clumsy, ravenous 
beast, like a combination reaper and steam rol- 
ler, may be imagined, Perhaps it is not strange 
that he turns hunter and tries to get back some 
of his crops in the shape of edible hippopotamus 
meat. 

But the true prize of the hunt is the tusks 
which have been known to reach a weight of 7 
lbs. and a length of 30 inches. These grow in 
the form of a half circle of which the greater 
part remains imbedded in the jaw, and are of 
such fine grade of ivory as to have been for- 
merly used for the manufacture of artificial 
teeth, and for delicate, scientific instruments. 
Their natural curve made them also useful for 
the verniers of ships' sextants. 



126 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

In addition to the curved tusks are two strange 
incisors projecting forward from the lower 
jaw which are said to act as crowbars in tearing 
aquatic plants from the mud. 

THE BEAVER'S TEETH 

Our own watersides contain some few exam- 
ples of the fast- vanishing race of beavers, which 
have still greater prowess since even good- 
sized forest trees must fall before their teeth. 
These are the star performers of the great group 
of rodents, or gnawing animals, and sometimes 
in the night when we hear the steady irritating 
rasp of a rat or mouse working its way through 
a floor board we should be thankful that its car- 
penter tools are not so large as those of its big 
cousin the beaver. 

As is well known the beaver's habits call for a 
certain depth of water in order that he may 
enter his home by diving beneath the surface 
where most enemies cannot follow. This ac- 
counts for the wonderful dam by which this in- 
stinctive engineer backs up the water in his 
chosen stream, and which needs the strength of 
tree-trunks for its foundation. Hence he re- 
quires genuine woodman's tools and these are 
found in the two broad chisel-like incisors of 
each jaw which meet in front. Conspicuous as 
these are, but a small part of the tooth is visi- 
ble, and if one could see a cross-section of his 



TEETH 



127 



upper jaw it would be uoticed that the incisor 
is in reality semi-circular, pushing upward and 
forward from a point back near the molars. 
Thus it grows constantly from its base as hard 
work wears off its free end and the semi-circular 
shape of its growth keeps this end in a vertical 
position (see diagram) ready for service. The 




Diagram (after Lydekker) of Sectiox of Beaver's Skull 

Showing Semicircular Incisor, always growing from base as 

cutting end wears, and always kept in vertical position at 

its free end. 

A. Incisor. B. Molars. 

grain of the tooth and the method of its use pre- 
serve its sharpness as well, for a grind-stone is 
not required by Nature's woodsmen, and the 
vertical position gives a biting force which could 
not be possessed by slanting teeth. 

When, therefore, the beaver selects his tree the 
chips must fly, as he first gnaws girdling 
grooves above and below and then tears out the 
wood between until sufficient depth is reached 
to bring it crashing down, after which the same 



128 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

keen cutting instruments swiftly trim it of in- 
cumbering branches. 

THE SNAKE'S TEETH 

The foregoing are but a few of the more strik- 
ing features of tooth development among the 
Mammals, treated in an incomplete way; the 
Bird group we can pass entire, since toothed 
birds are found only in fossil remains, while 
among Eeptiles we shall but glance briefly at 
the teeth of the snake. 

It will be remembered that in our Chapter on 
"Months" we noticed how the bones of the 
snake's lower jaw are put together so loosely 
that they have the power to distend widely when 
swallowing prey entire, as is its custom. For 
this reason we should not expect to find molars 
for grinding, incisors for cutting, nor even the 
tearing teeth of many meat-eating animals. 
All that such a feeder would need would be 
barbs to aid in catching and holding prey and 
these we find in the sharp and slender teeth, 
curving backward and set in rows — usually two 
rows in the upper jaw and one row in the lower. 
In swallowing, their smooth backward curve would 
present no obstacle but any struggle to escape 
on the part of the victim would but hook it more 
firmly upon many needle-like points, and the 
snake itself could not release its prey once 
fastened. Gorging active prey would be prac- 



TEETH 129 

tically impossible to a creature like the snake, 
being without claws to hold or feet to assist, 
were it not for these simple but most effective 
barbs. 

But in considering snake's teeth our first 
thought is apt to turn to the poison fangs which 
have gained such an evil reputation. It is not 
enough to answer that many snakes are non- 
poisonous and absolutely harmless save to the 
small creatures upon which they feed, frequently 
being a real help to the farmer by destroying 
the enemies of his crops. Nor are we disposed 
to remember that even the poisonous species 
are generally anxious to avoid an encounter, for 
the fact remains that these latter bear with 
them those subtile and powerful fluids which 
cause death in a peculiarly abhorrent form. 
There is an association of cowardice and treach- 
ery in the thought of poison, which makes us 
place it far below the use of violent means. 

With venomous snakes this poison is con- 
veyed by long curved fangs, slender as needles, 
which lie backward along the upper jaw but are 
erected in striking (the snake does not bite). 
These are grooved so deeply from base to tip 
that the walls of the grooves often join and make 
a tiny tube down which slips the deadly drop, when 
the poison gland is squeezed by its special mus- 
cles. Thus the merest puncture of the skin 
may be sufficient to cause suffering or death, 



130 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

and the delicate fangs of the serpent become 
as dangerous as the mighty ones of the tiger. 
Accidents have sometimes occurred to those who 
have captured snakes and deprived them of their 
fangs, thinking to render them harmless, but 
forgetting that Nature immediately begins the 
development of other fangs to replace those lost 
so that the creature is soon as dangerous as be- 
fore. 

In the most poisonous snakes there is but a 
single row of hook-teeth in the upper jaw. 
There is also a difference in the position of the 
fangs — some being known as "front-fanged" 
and others as "back-fanged." 

THE KACHIODON'S TEETH 

The rachiodon is a curious little tree snake 
of South Africa which is clever enough to take 
its prey in the unresisting form of eggs, thereby 
saving itself the trouble of capture. What has 
made it famous is the fact that some of its ver- 
tebrae have projections into the throat, tipped 
with enamel and constituting a kind of "throat 
teeth." This is really a beautiful device. An 
egg in its shell is not particularly nourishing, a 
smashed raw egg is an awkward thing to deal 
with, the rachiodon has no facilities for hard- 
boiling nor even so much as a spoon to eat with. 
All are unnecessary to the possessor of throat 
teeth, for these split open the shell of the partly 



TEETH 131 

swallowed egg, allowing the contents to run down 
the throat and the empty shell to be ejected. 

THE SHARK'S TEETH 

In the great world of the waters a most com- 
mon type of tooth is the "pisciverous," or fish- 
eating, already considered under dolphins ; viz. : 
numerous, small, curved, pointed and similar, 
not intended for chewing or crushing, but ad- 
mirable for the capture of the quick, slippery 
body of a fish. Since fish prey so largely upon 
each other these are widely useful and in most 
cases are attached firmly to the bones of the 
jaws instead of being set in sockets. However, 
there are so many exceptions and variations that 
one hardly realizes how many changes may be 
rung upon the familiar tooth plan until he 
studies them among fishes — teeth varying from 
none in the sturgeon to almost countless num- 
bers in the pike, ossified to the jaws, set mov- 
ably, or again attached to the other head bones, 
the throat, lips or even the tongue, sharp like 
needles or flattened together like a pavement, 
all of these speak to us fascinatingly of many 
differences of food and condition in this vast 
realm, although we purpose glancing at but two 
or three. 

In the more familiar sharks there are many 
rows of sharp, conical teeth, filling the broad 
mouth cavity and pointing backward so that 



132 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



prey is firmly held. These also from their num- 
bers give an exceptional hold upon flesh to be 
torn, since the shark is a sea scavenger and 
eagerly attacks the dead carcasses of whales, for 
example. 

The backmost rows, while little more than 
rudimentary, are continually developing and 
pushing forward to replace the outer rows as 
these may wear or break. 

THE SAWFISH'S TEETH 

There is one energetic member of the shark 
family which carries additional teeth in an un- 
usual place. The sawfish wears, projecting 
from the front of its head in much the manner of 
the narwhal, a broad blade of cartilage, which 




The Terrible Toothed Weapon of the Sawfish 



may reach a length of 6 feet, and is set on either 
side with strong, very sharp, slightly curved 
teeth. 

This formidable-looking weapon cannot be 
used for piercing since its end is blunt and 



TEETH 133 

lather soft, but that it is necessary for food 
gathering is evident if we glance at the small 
mouth with its enormous number of small, weak 
teeth, sometimes as many as fifty rows but all 
unfit for rough work. Indeed its method of 
hunting is peculiar to itself, for plunging into 
the midst of a school of smaller fish it lays about 
it with its blade like a savage swordsman, the 
sharp teeth ripping the bodies of its hapless 
prey so that the monster may feed upon their 
soft entrails, to which its mouth and mouth- 
teeth are best fitted. So formidable is this 
weapon that there are instances of men having 
been cut completely in two while bathing. 

THE BAY'S TEETH 

But that there are crushing teeth among the 
fishes is shown by various types among which 
are those oddly flattened relatives of the shark 
family known as rays. The parrot fish have 
strong front teeth able even to bite off pieces 
of coral. The carp have grinders in their 
throat which have led to the suggestion that 
they may regurgitate and chew their food, like 
the cow with her cud, but it remains for the 
rays and a few others to show us teeth of the 
"pavement" type. In other words theirs are 
so flattened and united that they form a power- 
ful crushing surface in either jaw, being joined 
like the blocks of a pavement. One need only 



134 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

remember that with their flat bodies they are 
fitted for life on the sea-bottom, where crabs 
and hard-shelled mollusks abound, to perceive 
the value of such a crushing instrument. Thus 
again are food habits indicated by teeth. 

THE HUMAN TEETH 

We have not so much as noticed some forms 
of teeth and have "touched only the high 
places" with the others, but one who has fol- 
lowed thus far must have realized the purely 
mechanical character of the tooth design, in- 
tended in some cases for weapons like the tusks, 
or for artisan use like the beaver's incisors, but 
in most cases simply a means for preparing food 
for digestion by reducing its size or breaking up 
its tissues. 

So soon as we reach man, however, we come 
upon a new set of conditions — the artificial. 
Man has an active, scheming brain, with which 
he is ever seeking to alter Nature's original 
methods. Thus he has added to his eyes other 
eyes with which to explore the stars or examine 
the invisibly small; he has given himself ears 
to hear for hundreds of miles; has invented 
weapons which change his weak body into the 
destroyer of the greatest beasts; has learned 
to outswim the fishes; outrun the deer and is 
even vying with the eagle in the air. Still more : 
in the matter of food he has added to his teeth 



TEETH 135 

so many other devices that we can hardly won- 
der at the tendency of Nature's instruments to 
decay from neglect. Man's knife and fork are 
kinds of external teeth which save him from 
tearing or biting down his food to small sizes. 
So, too, are the various cooking processes which 
break up and soften the tissues and fiber — work 
which would otherwise have to be done by long 
continued grinding with the molars. Even 
worse is the careless habit which has resulted 
from these aids; that of swallowing food with 
such slight chewing that it reaches the stomach 
almost unmasticated. There is small wonder 
that with all this use of the brain, the forehead 
has filled out and straightened, while the neg- 
lected jaw has gradually reduced until civilized 
man has a facial angle much more nearly ver- 
tical than that of savage races. But brain use 
is not always sensible, and this is particularly 
the case in the neglect of teeth. Nature has 
tried to provide for sufficient chewing. She has 
placed the nerves of taste within the mouth as 
an inducement to prolong the pleasure, she 
has capped the teeth with a substance, enamel, 
containing 96% of mineral matter and hard 
enough for unlimited use, she has provided in- 
cisors for cutting, canines for tearing if need 
be, bicuspids for reducing and broad rough 
molars for grinding and she has combined in 
the jaws the biting hinge of the cats with the 



136 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

side-swing of cows and horses. All has been 
done that could be done to fit ns for properly 
preparing the greatest variety of food for 
healthy digestion. If man neglects these many 
provisions he should not complain at the pangs 
of dyspepsia or tooth-ache. How well Nature 
rewards their proper use is shown by the ex- 
perience of one dentist who was surprised to 
find perfectly sound teeth in the mouth of one 
of the London poor — a man of fifty. As this 
was an unusal condition with this class he made 
investigation and learned that for some reason 
this man was unable to swallow his food with- 
out very thorough mastication. He gave about 
120 separate bites to even a piece of bread in a 
steady, deliberate way like the cud-chewing of 
a cow, and through this habit the teeth retained 
their good condition. Fletcher and others as- 
sure us that the average eater in our hurried 
modern life misses most of the pleasure of food 
and also so much of its nutrition through insuf- 
ficient chewing that he tries to make up in in- 
creased quantity for his lack of care, thus injur- 
ing the digestive system through overwork. 

This is not the place to go into an examination 
of the tooth structure nor of the differences be- 
tween our rooted teeth and the unrooted ever- 
growing type found in the tusks of the ele- 
phant or the incisors of the beaver. It may 
simply be noted that man together with most 



TEETH 



137 



mammals has two sets of teeth — the so-called 
"milk teeth," and the second or "permanent" 
set — which should be permanent even when they 
are not. While nursing, the baby has no need 
of teeth, but when the little snowy edges begin 




The Jaws of a 6-year-old Child 

Showing milk teeth with permanent set forming behind them. 

In this instance the permanent middle incisors of lower 

jaw have forced out the corresponding milk teeth. 



to force their way painfully through pink gums, 
it is foreshadowed to the proud mother that 
Baby is intended to play a man's part in the 
world. Soon these are sufficient in number to 



138 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

call for more solid food and from the first year 
until the seventh this first set are used or abused 
as the case may be. But the child is growing 
rapidly and finally outgrows his teeth. The 
bones, limbs, features all increase with the size 
of the body but an enamel- covered tooth is much 
too hard for such growth and never increases 
when once fully cut. Therefore Nature has 
another device and develops above and below 
in the spaces of the jaw other larger teeth which 
gradually force their way into place pushing 
out their predecessors, until the larger mouth 
has cutters and grinders to correspond. From 
this time, until death at whatever age, authori- 
ties tell us, we need never lose a tooth save 
through accident or neglect. It is merely a 
question of chewing properly, cleaning carefully 
and occasionally visiting a dentist to correct the 
result of any oversight. 

This is the ideal but the use of fillings and 
false teeth from the days of ancient Egypt to 
the immense industry of the present day when 
$2,000,000 worth of gold is said to be used an- 
nually in American dentistry alone, shows how 
far we fall short of our physical privileges. 



CHAPTEE Vn 



BILLS 




OME into the Bird-House 
at the Zoo. We will col- 
lect a few bills. Not bills 
of the unpleasant first-of- 
the-month kind, nor yet the 
greenbacked sort that many 
bill collectors desire. The 
bills of our purpose are 
the most important of all 
since without them a great division of the animal 
kingdom could not live. You perhaps hardly 
realized what curious things bills could be while 
you were thinking of the whole birds. Some 
are as sharp as awls, some broad as spoons, 
others thick, thin, curved, bent, pouched, even 
crossed; varied in all sorts of fantastic ways. 

What does the whole collection most remind 
you of? Is it not like a show-case full of tools 
in a hardware shop ? And after all is not this 
the clue to our research? There they are, cage 
after cage of feathered artisans each one ready 
and anxious to go out into the world to make 

139 



140 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

his own living, if someone would only open the 
door, and each one equipped with his own par- 
ticular and special tool. 

At first it might seem as though the bird 
had been unfairly treated as compared with other 
creatures when it came to securing food. He 
has no front feet to seize or hold with like 
the cat, the monkey or the squirrel, he has no 
strong, grasping lips like the horse, no prehen- 
sile tongue like the giraffe, no trunk like the 
elephant, no tearing, cutting or grinding teeth 
like the multitude. Yet he is as well fed as 
any for to balance all of these lacks he has a 
bill, and if ever there were a master-key for the 
unlocking of every sort of food problem it is 
that self-same bill. 

But now we must look more sharply into some 
of the cages and begin to use our "Why" on 
special cases. 

THE COMMON BILL 

Let us examine it as though we had never 
seen a bill before — two little hard pieces coming 
to a point in front and having sharp edges 
lengthwise. It looks like a toy combination of 
tongs and scissors, which really is not far out 
of the way. Why? Well, if you were to try 
to pick up tiny seeds or insects from the soft 
soil or among the grasses you would find it a 
difficult thing to do with your soft, blunt finger- 



BILLS 141 

ends, but if your nails were extra long you could 
manage it easily. Now if you cared to trim 
your nails to a sharp point so that you could 
pick each thing separately you might become 
really expert, and then you would see why our 
common birds have hard and pointed bills. Still 
your nails would not begin to be as good as a 
bill. If, for example, you wished to carry a 
choice morsel to the nestlings you would quickly 
learn the advantage of a hollow bill with its 
better grip, while if there were some berry to 
be plucked or an extra-sized insect to dismem- 
ber, the bill's scissor edge would be valuable. 
Often, too, the bird chews with his bill. ' ' Dixie, ' 9 
a tame mocking bird, considered a meal-worm 
the greatest of delicacies. .If one were held be- 
fore the bars of his cage he would dance up 
daintily with wings upraised, snatch it away, 
and run it back and forth through his bill with 
swift little bites before turning it lengthwise 
and swallowing it. It helped prepare the worm 
for digestion and gave a longer taste of the 
probably delicate flavor. 

Before leaving the ^common birds " there is 
one other bill use which every spring shows us 
in the trees and bushes. The little nest-homes 
of woven grasses and plastered mud, some of 
which are really remarkable pieces of work in- 
dicate how much a good workman can accomplish 
with but a single tool, for every wisp of straw, 



142 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

every pellet of mud has had to be carried and 
worked into place with the bill. Examine the 
hanging nest of an oriole, or look at a picture 
of the wonderful sewed nest of the Indian tailor 
bird if you would realize what a deft construc- 
tion tool this may sometimes be. 

All of the common bills are not alike of course, 
as anyone can see. Some are best fitted for eat- 
ing worms and fruit, some are "hard bills," 
like that of the canary, made thicker and stronger 
for cracking the shells of certain seeds and there 
are many other small differences for other needs, 
but we must pass on to some of the more striking 
and remarkable tools in farther cages — bills that 
we see less frequently. 

THE EAGLE'S BEAK 

Here, then, is a corridor of big, stern, silent 
birds, which hardly deign to notice us, and there 
is something dangerous-looking about the strong 
beak that hooks so sharply at the end. From 
its size and strength it might be used to cap- 
ture prey — but no, that will hardly do for the 
long, overhanging hook would surely be in the 
way. The eagle cannot open his jaws widely 
like the cat, and prey is quick and wary. Im- 
agine a hungry eagle trying to snatch a swift- 
flying duck or a nimble rabbit by darting at 
it with his mouth opened to its limited extent 
and still further narrowed by that down-turned 



BILLS 



143 



hook. Yon can see that it would be almost as 
useless as for a hunter to arm himself with a 
bag of salt to put on the tails of birds. 

But if we relax our rule long enough to steal 
a glance down at his spreading talons it becomes 
plain enough how the duck or the rabbit is caught 




The Beak of the Osprey 
Showing tearing hook and manner in which it narrows mouth 

opening. 

and held. And now with his victim safely 
landed in some lofty dining-pavilion how well 
the beak comes into play at last. Watch him in 
fancy as he eagerly strikes its savage hook into 
the firm flesh and tears from it shred after shred 
small enough to pass down a rather narrow 



m ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

gullet. What could he have done with a pigeon's 
bill for instance, and how abominably and hope- 
lessly in the way would have been the long clap- 
ping jaws of the pelican! Each one to its own 
use. 

Wood gives an instance which shows that some 
time is required for this style of feeding. An 
eagle was seen to carry a duck he had captured 
to a large block of floating ice and sit there 
while he tore and devoured it. Then he spread 
his wings for flight but found too late that while 
engaged in the feast his feet had frozen fast to 
the ice cake. Sympathetic onlookers were un- 
able to reach him and saw him finally carried 
out to sea in the darkness. 

THE HEEON'S BILL 

But this is a tool of a different kind. Here 
is a long-legged fellow standing so motionless 
that we might almost think him stuffed, and 
wearing a peculiar, intent look as though he 
were doing a problem in mental arithmetic. And 
his bill which is long like his neck and legs comes 
to a sharp straight point like a pair of shears. 
This is no tearing beak, as we can see with 
half an eye for it has no hook. It would be as 
inconvenient for rending as would those long, 
thin toes for catching and yet there is an ap- 
petite beneath that feathered breast and plenty 
of food must come by way of the pointed bill. 



BILLS 



145 



"What kind of food? Xot rabbits, not fowls, 
not anything too large to be swallowed whole 
for the reason already given. How about bugs, 
worms, seeds or berries, like many birds? Yes, 
possibly, at a pinch but imagine the awkward- 
ness of the big bird dabbing with his long bill 
at little grubs and creepers. It would be like 
a man on stilts picking up marbles with a pair 
of tongs, and a short-billed rooster, his nose close 




The Fishing Bill of the Heron 

to the ground, would catch ten to his one. Here 
is a point to be remembered — Nature doesn't 
handicap her children in the struggle for food. 
If there appears to be a handicap it only means 
that we haven't looked closely enough — haven't 
searched out the answer. If we could watch 
him at some quiet marshy pool or riverside we 
might see him standing in the shallow water, 
again motionless, again staring fixedly as though 
that perplexing mental arithmetic were still 
troubling him. Then comes a swift motion of 



146 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

his head — ah, he has solved it! What, the 
arithmetic? No, the food problem for there is 
a small wiggling fish in the long bill. A gulp, 
and it has disappeared. After a little there is 
another and there will be still others to follow. 
And the thing is done with the greatest deftness 
and grace, for awkward and ungainly only when 
out of his element, as a scientific fisherman he 
could give points to Izaak Walton. 

For example: one of them captured not long 
ago disgorged two recently swallowed trout, 
weighing respectively thirty-two and twenty- 
four ounces, while another was found to have 
dined rather well on seven small trout, one 
mouse, and one thrush. 

Standing in the shallow water his thin legs 
must look like dead sticks to careless little fish 
that cannot see upward readily, and so they come 
within range of the swift dart of his flexible 
neck and javelin bill. Now we see the advantage 
of its straightness and sharpness. A fish is agile 
and can whisk away in a flash, hence that one 
stroke must be unerring in its aim and this could 
not be if the bill were broad, crooked or other- 
wise clumsy. 

The heron's bill makes him a dangerous an- 
tagonist even for a man. A hunter tells of try- 
ing to capture a bird which had been wounded 
and narrowly escaping a lightning-like thrust at 
his eyes which would have blinded him had he 



BILLS 147 

been less wary. The eve indeed seems to be 
the nsnal place of attack and an instance is 
given of a captive heron which, shut np in the 
same cage with five owls, during the night com- 
pletely blinded four of them and destroyed one 
eye of the fifth. Certain savages, who are said 
to make spears by fastening heron's bills to long 
sticks, appreciate their vahie as weapons. 

Another fishing bill mnch like the heron's is 
fonnd on the earnest little kingfisher, which we 
have all seen sitting upon branches overhang- 
ing the water. If the heron is to be likened to 
a spearman the kingfisher is himself both archer 
and arrow, as he hurls himself into the water 
with the sure aim of an expert marksman. 

It takes many fish to feed either one of these 
feathered fishers, and yet they are less enemies 
to water life than some of our human sportsmen, 
for once their appetites are satisfied they do not 
continue killing for the mere love of the game. 
Even the f oemen of untamed nature seem to have 
something of a "live and let live" understand- 
ing. 

THE PELICAN'S BILL 

There are no hook-and-line anglers among the 
birds, but there is a scoop-net fisher that is too 
interesting to overlook. Waddling in and out 
among the long-legged waders in the bird-house 
is a squat, heavy-bodied fellow with a most pre- 



148 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

posterous bill and a grave, almost worried look. 
To judge from his expression, life is full of heavy 
responsibility and yet there must be some fun 
in his make-up for he seems ready for an oc- 
casional frolic or scuffle with his fellow inmates. 
Perhaps you will see him clap his huge bill at 
some inoffensive duck that does not move quickly 
enough from his path. But the duck does not 
act alarmed and appears to know that it is all 
in sport. 

The action, though, has called our attention 
to quite the most interesting thing about the 
pelican. The bottom of his bill is not solid as 
with most birds, but closed by a pouch of loose 
skin like a long, shrunken pocket, the use of 
which does not fully appear in the bird-house. 
Still we can realize that the pelican's bill is much 
too clumsy for the swift stroke of the heron 
while the short hook on the end would also 
interfere. In spite of this the pelican is as much 
a professional as the heron or kingfisher and 
gets both his living and considerable sport out 
of his style of fishing. To see him at it we would 
have to go to the coast waters of some of the. 
Southern States. Here schools of fish swim 
often to the surface and here we would see the 
pelican flying with powerful strokes at a height 
of twenty to thirty feet and then suddenly hurl- 
ing himself open-mouthed into the water with a 
tremendous splash. Just as he dives — and this 



BILLS 149 

is the interesting point — the sides of his lower 
mandible spread out to about the width of your 
hand so that the pouch becomes at once a fair- 
sized scoop-net. Thus the dashing white pelican 
fishes, his brown-colored cousins preferring to 
swim in flocks beating the water with their 
wings and driving the fish into shallow water 
in order to scoop them more readily. 

Of course either may miss but the chances are 
that there is something good in the leathery bag 
after a scoop. Then the bill must be held up 
to drain out the pouch-full of water, next it is 
given a quick jerk to throw the fish forward 
into a position for swallowing and now possibly 
there is a disaster, for certain inconsiderate 
gulls are apt to take a selfish interest in the 
pelican's fishing and if so much as the tip of 
the fish's tail is seen sticking out of his bill the 
bold pick-pocket makes a snatch for it. Often 
and often the poor pelican must begin all over 
again, but he does so philosophically. After all 
such is life from Pelicanville to Wall Street. 

But perhaps there are babies at home. If so, 
the scrawny youngsters with their ever-raven- 
ous appetites plunge their heads greedily into 
the mighty jaws of the fond parent and even 
drag forth partially digested fish from the lat- 
ter 's gullet. In the remarkably fine pelican 
group in a case at the New York Museum of 
Natural History is shown one curious method 



150 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

by which the half-grown young sometimes deal 
with fish which are too large for their own gul- 
lets to enclose. Squatting in the foreground is 
such a one with much of the tail of a sizable 
fish sticking from his open mouth patiently and 
contentedly waiting for the head to digest, so 
that he can swallow it the rest of the way. Poor 
little chap, the naturalist didn't let him finish 
his meal and future generations will also doubt- 
less see him still working doggedly on that same 
indigestible fish. 

THE WOODCOCK'S BILL 

But too many other interesting bills await, 
for us to spend more of our limited space with 
these fishers, and down in the soft mud near the 
water's edge or in boggy woodland may be found 
one of them in the possession of the quaint little 
woodcock. 

The woodcock's eyes alone would prove to us 
that he is no fisher. Compared with those of 
the heron, kingfisher or pelican it will be seen 
that his are set much too far back for aiming a 
stroke or a scoop, since one must have a quick 
eye to catch swift-moving fish. Nor is his bill 
a fishing bill, being rounded, very slender and 
moved by a neck too short for striking. Why 
then is he so often at the water-side? Because 
of the soft mud which we would tread upon 
unthinking but he knows to be stored full of 



BILLS 



151 



tile most delicious worms if one know how to 
get at them. And indeed he knows, for that 
is a scientific mnd-probe which he carries and 
he can push it down to a depth at which 
most worms might feel secure. Even so one 




The Mud-Probe of the Woodcock 



might wonder how a bird's hard bill could de- 
tect anything so soft as a worm in the similar 
softness of the mud, but the woodcock's bill is a 
wonderfully sensitive organ of touch, and he can 
tell in an instant. It is not blind chance either, 
for whether by the power of scent or hearing, 



152 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

or both, the woodcock knows exactly where to try 
for his food. A tame one was observed probing 
a sod and pulling out a worm for almost every 
thrust. 

Then he has still another advantage. One can 
realize that it would not be easy to open even a 
slender bill when pushed deeply into sticky mud, 
but the woodcock's upper mandible is flexible 
and slightly movable at the very tip, so that he 
can grasp with it while the rest of his bill re- 
mains closed. 

THE AVOCET ? S BILL 

His cousin the avocet — for both belong to the 
plover tribe — has also a long slender bill, but 
in his case it curves upward like a pair of mani- 
cure scissors. There is also something scissor- 




The Mud-Scissors of the Avocet 

like in the way it is used, for the avocet walks 
along on the mud or in the shallow water, his 
curved bill held down before him and fairly 
"scissors" the ground by moving his head back 



BILLS 153 

and forth and rapidly opening and shutting 
his jaws. This is because of the many tiny 
crustaceans and other forms of life he finds, each 
one so small that one must be active to make out 
a square meal. It is easy to see that only such 
an upward curved bill could run over soft mud 
without sticking. Cousin woodcock's straight 
probe would merely plow into the mud if he tried 
to push it before him. 

THE FLAMINGO'S BILL 

And now we come to a thick, downward-bent 
mouth-piece very different from any of these. 
Tall and stately is the flamingo and his beauti- 
ful flaming color has given him his name, but 
his bill looks as though it had been broken. Is 
this an instrument, too? Indeed it is — a most 
excellent one for its purpose. Let us see — 
the flamingo's long legs tell us that he must 
wade out into the water to feed. His wonder- 
fully long neck, long enough to reach to the 
ground, makes us sure that he feeds from the 
water's bottom. He certainly could not make a 
living striking at fish with that crooked, clumsy 
bill, and it would even be awkward in picking up 
objects, hence we realize that Nature must have 
some other food plan for him. However to 
make it clear, there are multitudes of tiny spiral 
shell-fish at the bottom of the waters where he 
lives and these must be grubbed for in the soft 



154 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



mud — hadn 't you noticed how much like a grub- 
bing-hoe is the bend in that bill? It is by means 
of that bend that he lives. Frank M. Chapman 
who made the famous visit to the flamingo city 
says that it is a curious sight to see the big birds 
feeding, standing out in the water which may 
reach to their bodies, their heads thrust down 




The Flamingo's Bill 
" A combination grubbing hoe and potato-masher." 

out of sight while they tread up and down in 
a "ridiculous kind of jig," which is really to 
loosen the mud in which the food lies. Mean- 
while the bill scoops its mouthful of mud and 
shell-fish and then the upper mandible squeezes 
rapidly (although with most birds it is the lower 
mandible which moves) and the mud is forced 



BILLS 155 



out through little side-strainers until the food 
is washed clean and ready to swallow. It is an 
excellent squeezer, too, that bent bill. It gives 
a powerful pressure almost exactly like the 
action of one of those patent lever potato-mash- 
ers, which you may have seen, where a plunger 
presses the potato through a screen. May we 
not then call the flamingo's bill a combination 
grubbing hoe and potato press applied to se- 
curing little shell-fish? "Who but Dame Nature 
would have thought of such a device? 

But the baby flamingo's bill has no bend. For 
the first three weeks or so it is as straight as 
that of any other bird. Nature does that on 
purpose, too. The chick is too small and weak 
to wade out after shell-fish like the bigger birds 
but takes drops of juice from the mouth of its 
parents — "regurgitated clam broth," Mr. Chap- 
man calls it — or else picks and swallows bits of its 
own shell, needing a straight bill for both these 
uses. And then some day with longer legs and 
greater strength, the straight bill begins to droop 
into the familiar bend and Nature whispers to 
the little chap that it is time for him to try the 
shallow pools and begin to stand on his head, 
too, in regular flamingo fashion. 

THE SKIMMER'S BILL 

But it will not do to spend too much of our 
time at the water's edge. We are not trying to 



156 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

cover the whole subject but merely to take some 
of the interesting types and show how Nature 
may be questioned in other cases. Therefore 
we must pass over the grasping tugging bill 
of the duck, the down-curved picking bill of the 
curlew and ibis, the thin-edged diving bill of 
the puffin and loon and many, many others, to 
hasten back to the land birds. And yet in doing 
so let us pause just long enough to glance at 
one of the most remarkable tools in the kingdom 
— that of the skimmer. 

It is not quite fair to tell the name at the 
start because that explains the use, but can you 
imagine a pair of large shears such as tailors 
use held slightly open, and pushed swiftly over 
the surface of the water with only the lower 
blade dipping? Imagine also that the upper 
blade is much shorter than the lower one and 
you have a pretty fair idea of the skimmer's bill 
and its use. Most birds' bills are hollow or 
grooved, but the skimmer's bills are blades nearly 
up to his head and cut the water like a knife. 
Little fishes which swim at the surface find them- 
selves seized before they know that there is any 
danger. 

Darwin thus describes a flock which he saw 
feeding: "They kept their bills wide open, and 
the lower mandible half buried in the water. 
Thus skimming the surface they plowed it in 
their course — and it formed a most curious spec- 



BILLS 157 

tacle to behold a flock, each bird leaving its nar- 
row wake on the mirror-like surface. In their 
flight they dexterously managed with their pro- 
jecting lower mandible to plow up small fish 
which are secured by the upper and shorter half 
of their scissor-like bills." 

THE NIGHT-HAWK'S BILL 

If this skimmer runs to bill, there is another 
skimmer — an air skimmer — that seems at first 
to have practically none at all — merely two little 
points that look almost too small to speak of 
as a bill, but when he opens his mouth you see 
from its breadth that it is meant for catching 
something. It seems perhaps a little strange 
to think of this solemn, frog-mouthed bird as 
the graceful night-hawk that we see high over- 
head in summer afternoons. We know him by 
his weird rasping cry of "zee-e-oop" and by the 
way he takes a few swift wing strokes and then 
soars in a free irregular course. Occasionally 
as we watch him we see him make a swift swoop 
and then could we be near enough we would 
find that he was rushing with his broad mouth 
wide open upon some high-flying insect which 
hardly has time to be surprised. His cousin 
the night-flying whippoorwill has also a fringe 
of bristles about his bill which help to strain the 
insect from the air, almost as a butterfly-net 
might do it. 



158 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

THE HUMMIKG-BIKD 's BILL 

Another summer visitor is the daintiest mem- 
ber of all the brotherhood of birds. How ex- 
quisite he is as he hovers a moment before a 
bed of salvias, for example, and probes one after 
another of the red-throated blossoms with his 
needle-like bill. His taste for honey and the tiny 
insects it attracts is quite in keeping with his 
smallness and beauty, and he needs just such 
a long slender bill to reach to the bottom of the 
flower tubes. 

Strangely enough humming-birds are not 
known outside of America and while this lit- 
tle " ruby- throat" is our most familiar exam- 
ple there are many more brilliant kinds in the 
tropical regions. One of these has a bill that 
curves downward sharply, but not too sharply 
for the kind of blossoms which he seeks. An- 
other is the marvelous sword-bill, that looks as 
though he must have got the bill of some older 
and larger bird by mistake. He makes you 
think of the six-year-old son of the Kentucky 
mountaineer who has taken " Dad's rifle" to 
play at being a man. 

It is hard to think of a bird with a bill longer 
than all the rest of him and yet how else could 
he reach far up into the nectary of the huge, 
bell-shaped blossoms of some of the tropical 



BILLS 



159 



vines? Nature could not leave so rich a store 
unpatronized, even if she did have to have a 




The Amazing Flower-Probe of the Sword -Bill 
Humming -Bird 



gentle joke at the sword-bill's expense, while the 
little fellow really has no idea of how ridiculous 
he looks, 



160 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

THE WOODPECKEK's BILL 

While the humming-bird is still investigating 
our salvia bed there comes a sudden, sharp, rat- 
tling beat from the big tree across the way and 
there is a woodpecker hammering away for dear 
life until it makes our own heads fairly ache 
to think of jerking them so swiftly. He is sig- 
naling "the long roll." A little later we may 
see him cutting his way into the trunk with skill- 
ful strokes for this little workman's bill is a drill, 
wedge-shaped, sharp and very strong, and ev- 
eryone knows that there are grubs and insects 
in the wood that he finds worth working for. 
Again it is of value when it comes to cutting a 
tunnel for a nest as is the custom. 

But there is also another use and a rather 
curious one. Californians know that it is no 
uncommon sight to find the bark of trees per- 
forated with holes somewhat larger than a bul- 
let hole and spaced so accurately that one might 
almost think them laid out mathematically. In 
some sections they will be found in nearly all 
of the softer timber. At first thought one might 
fancy this the work of boring insects, but no 
insect would plug so many of them with neatly 
fitted acorns. It is really a clever sort of out- 
door cupboard constructed by the shrewd wood- 
pecker in order to store away food where it 
cannot be covered by the winter 's snows. After 



BILLS 161 

the acorns fall the provident birds may often be 
seen, fluttering and clawing around the tree- 
trunk with acorns in their bills until they find 
a hole of exactly the right diameter when they 
insert the acorns skillfully and tap them tightly 
in. Not until those on the ground are buried 
under the snow do they draw upon this supply. 

THE CROSSBILL'S BILL 

But let us be moderate. There is a temptation 
to stop and examine the huge jaws of the macaw, 
the linger ones of the toucan and that greatest 
monstrosity of all, the rhinoceros hornbill. The 
whale-head and boat-bill looking as though 
their faces had been stung by bees, challenge 
our curiosity. The spoonbill looks interesting 
and so does the wry-billed plover and any num- 
ber of others but something must be left for 
other days, and we will pass with but a parting 
glance at our own crossbill. This sparrow-like 
little fellow, with his reddish throat and breast 
and his strangely crossed, twisted bill-tips has 
been the subject of a quaint old German legend 
which tells how he flew to the Cross where the 
Savior hung and did his best to release him 
by tugging at the piercing nails until his bill 
was twisted and his feathers dyed with the blood. 
However he may h # ave come by that unusual twist 
he has learned that it is the best kind of an in- 
strument for getting the seeds out of the pine 



162 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



cones, and small as he is, his bill is one of the 
most ingenious devices in all the great collection. 
And now will you say that a bill is "just a 
bill"? Hardly so, or you would never have had 
the patience to read thus far. What then is a 
bill? It is as we said at the beginning — a tool, 
an instrument, an implement marvelously de- 
signed to fit the exact needs of its owner and 
delivered over to a workman who uses it so 
skillfully that he never feels the need of any 
other. 



CHAPTEE VIII 



FEET 




HEBE are many fresh marks 
in the dusty country road 
this morning. Bare-footed 
Oscar went by about an hour 
ago — I heard his whistle — 
and here is the record in his 
foot-prints. Here also are 
the double, spreading marks 
of the cow he drove, some- 
what marred by the later solid hoof-prints of 
neighbor Wesley's horse. Hens have been wan- 
dering about leaving odd little diagrams of 
branching lines, smaller diagrams, in pairs, show 
where the sparrows have hopped. A good-sized 
coon must have trotted across just below the old 
white oak sometime during the night, while this 
looks as though a cotton-tail rabbit had ventured 
out into the open, stopped to listen, and then 
scurried back again to the shelter of the bushes. 
And so it goes, every living creature which has 
stepped upon the road has left behind it the 
plainest evidence that its feet are different in 

163 



164 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

size, or shape, or both from those of all its fel- 
lows in the great Animal Kingdom. 

There is a world of character in Feet. If 
those highly-trained scientists we read of can 
reconstruct an entire animal by examining a 
single bone, we at least, in a humbler way, can 
gain not a little knowledge of the needs and habits 
of the Animal Kingdom, by noticing the differ- 
ences in its multitude of feet. 

THE CAT'S FOOT 

One of the first things which the little child dis- 
covers about animals is that " kitty has pins 
in her toes." That soft velvet paw had seemed 
so harmless, until suddenly sharp little hooks 
slipped out of their sheaths to leave red 
scratches on the dimpled wrist. Baby never 
forgets it but doesn't learn the reason until 
some day when he sees her catch a mouse or a 
bird. The darting stroke would do little good 
did it not carry with it a set of grasping hooks 
that seize and hold. 

Frank Bo stock, the animal trainer, once 
had an experience with his lion "Wallace," 
which gives an idea of what it must be like to 
be a bird or a mouse under these conditions. 
To quote his own words: "In this instance 
Wallace struck at me merely in play and with 
little of the strength that he would have dis- 
played in a willful attack. The stroke was a part 



FEET 165 

of the trick lie was used to, and lie made it with 
good animal intention, but it was none the less 
direful. The elaws fastened deep into the 
fleshy part of my leg, through boot and under- 
clothing, and there stuck. A lion's claws would 
not be nearly so dangerous were they sharp and 
straight, but they have a sharp curve and go in 
like a cant-hook, penetrating the flesh at an acute 
angle. The lion has not the sense to draw them 
out as they went in, by the curving process, but 
pulls them out straight. Wallace found his claws 
in farther than he intended and, slightly fright- 
ened promptly drew them out not backward but 
forward. Xeedless to say with them came a 
good sized piece of flesh which caused me excru- 
ciating pain. ' ' 1 

However, these same claws would be greatly 
in the animal's way were it not that Nature pro- 
vides for drawing them back when not in use. 
Even a dog's short nails will click as he walks 
across a wooden floor. The members of the cat 
tribe which hunt by stealth would be quite unable 
to get close enough for a spring were it not for 
the soft cushions, which make their walking 
noiseless, and the power to sheath their claws. 
Furthermore the claws would otherwise soon be- 
come too worn and dulled for use in hunting. 

But there is one odd, big cat found in Asia 

i From The Training of Wild Animal?, Frank C. Bostock, the 
Century Co., Xew York. 



166 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



and Africa which has this withdrawing power 
in such a slight degree that he is called ' i non- 
retractile-clawed. " The cheeta, or hunting- 
leopard is not a creature of stealth and this long- 










The Lion's Softly-Padded Toes 

legged dog-like animal is dog-like also in his style 
of hunting for he courses his prey in long, swift 
pursuit. The natives in consequence tame the 
cheeta and use him in the chase. 



THE DOG 7 S FOOT 

The dog, like the cheeta, runs down his game 
in the open and does not need the silent step of 
the cats with their retractile claws. For the 
same reason a dog requires much harder cush- 
ions which will not wear out with a long run on 
hard ground. The dog seizes things with his 
mouth instead of his feet and so does not have 



FEET 167 

use for sharp claws, but his hard uails are of 
value in running and especially in digging to 
bury a bone or uncover a rabbit. 

One who had never seen a cat or a dog might 
still be able to reason out these points of differ- 
ence through the simple comparison of their 
feet. 

THE BEAR'S FOOT 

The bear comes down on his heels. Members 
of the cat and dog families have feet that are 
known as digitigrade since they walk upon their 
toes, but the bears have plantigrade feet — that 
is, they walk upon their soles even as do we of the 
human race. Hence, as hunters know, there is 
something curiously human about the track of 
the bear. Why this difference? 

Let us suppose that you wish to run at the 
top of your speed. Notice how you throw your 
weight forward upon the ball of the foot and the 
toes. In other words you become as nearly 
digitigrade as possible for if you shuffled along 
flat-footedly your progress would be slow. 
Come to a stop, however, and you will quickly 
tire on your toes. The heel must come down 
for support. That is the answer. The bulky 
bears have a much greater proportion of weight 
to support than have either cats or dogs, and 
are much less agile. Their foot is for support- 
ing not for springing nor racing. 



168 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

Naturally, with such feet the bear is a poorer 
hunter and does not depend exclusively upon 
flesh — save in the case of the polar bear. The 
ordinary varieties must frequently content them- 
selves with young shoots, roots, fruits, berries 
and even ants and grubs while if they can raid 
an occasional store of wild honey their happiness 
is complete. Brown bears in Scandinavia are 
even said to have scratched away the earth 
around the telegraph poles having mistaken the 
humming of the wires for bees. 

In place of the sharp, retractile claws of the 
stealthy cats and the short nails of the fleet- 
footed dogs they have long, blunt, powerful 
claws, of some use as weapons but still more 
valuable in climbing trees and in digging for 
the bear, like the pig, seeks a share of its food 
below the surface and some varieties have the 
habit of burying any surplus provision. 

One hunter, struck down senseless by a huge 
grizzly, had the unpleasant experience of actu- 
ally being entombed alive by the beast which evi- 
dently believed him dead and had already sat- 
isfied its hunger with other prey. The man, re- 
covering consciousness, found himself loosely 
covered with earth and apparently put away for 
a future meal. It is hardly necessary to add 
that he hastened to remove himself from the 
bill of fare. 

In the country of the grizzlies, claw-marks will 



FEET 169 

occasionally be found in the bark of some tree 
which the experienced frontiersman reads in 
this wise: "Know all bears by these presents 
that I, A. Grizzly Bear, have discovered and do 
actually claim, possess and occupy the surround- 
ing territory; reserving the same for my exclu- 
sive use, title and enjoyment together with all 
of the food supplies thereof. Intruders will be 
punished to the fullest extent of my teeth and 
claws. In witness whereunto, I have herewith 
made my scratch." 

TTandering bears coming upon this notice are 
apt to test its authority by standing upright and 
striking the bark with their own claws as high 
as they can reach. If they can equal the height 
of the original marks they are not unlikely to 
stay and try conclusions in battle, but if their 
stature is less it will probably seem wisest to 
move farther. This simple device seems almost 
a sign of civilization. 

The great white polar has paws of even 
greater size, which make admirable paddles, 
for their owner is almost as much at home in 
water as on shore and is said to have been seen 
swimming across a forty mile strait. Its soles 
are not bare, like those of other varieties but 
covered with fur, for warmth doubtless, and also 
for the double purpose of giving it a better foot- 
ing on slippery ice, and muffling its steps when 
hunting. The polar bear is as already said ex- 



170 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 






clusively a hunter and always on the lookout for 
a chance to surprise some sleeping or basking 
seal. For this same reason its claws are short 
and noiseless. 



:m 




The Furry Plantigrade Foot of the Polar Bear 

Bears with their plantigrade feet can stand 
and even walk a little, erect, an accomplish- 
ment very rare among the quadrupeds, and this 
is a favorite fighting position with some of them. 



THE AISTT-EATEB/S FOOT 

A strange creature this, which comes hobbling 
along on the sides of his front feet, but one need 
only notice the huge, curved claw on each to 
realize why he cannot walk flat-footed. There 
are other odd things about his appearance as 
already noted, but that remarkable incurved 
claw may well make us wonder, unless we might 
see him swiftly tear his way into the big earth- 



FEET 171 

heaps which some of the tropical ants throw 
up like the swarming sky-scrapers of our busi- 
ness world. Multiply such a creature in your 
imagination until man takes the place of the ant 
in proportion to his size, and our greatest build- 
ings could hardly stand against the pull of his 
mighty hooks. 

THE SLOTH'S FOOT 

The foot of this still stranger creature is even 
more remarkable. Xot the fore-feet only but 
the rear as well are armed with claws so long and 
curved that one could see with "half-an-eye" 
how nearly useless they would be for ground 
travel. They look to be nothing more nor less 
than hanging-hooks, which is in fact exactly what 
they are. Their owner has no taste for any life 
but a topsy-turvy one. He eats and sleeps al- 
ways hanging back down from some bough, and 
travels by hooking himself along in the same 
position. He cannot, of course, move quickly in 
such a manner. If he could he would not be a 
sloth. 

Mr. Beebe cites the case of one family of sloths 
which lived for eleven years in a single clump 
of shade trees in Mexico without once descending 
to the ground. It was not unusual for them to 
pass weeks upon a single branch. 



172 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



THE MOLE'S FOOT 

Before leaving the claw-bearing animals it may 
be mentioned that there are several groups which 
are far better diggers than the bears. One of 
these includes the moles and another the arma- 
dillos, both having very short, strong legs, large 
front feet and thick powerful claws. In the case 
of the mole the legs are so short that their 
bones are largely contained in the skin of the 
body and little more than the feet project. The 
average gardener is all too familiar with their 
digging speed, and Hornaday gives an instance 
of 104% feet in 25 hours. As to armadillos, 
Darwin tells us that "the instant one was per- 
ceived, it was necessary, in order to catch it, 
almost to tumble off one's horse; for in soft soil 
the animal burrowed so quickly that its hinder 
quarters would almost disappear before one could 
alight. ' ' 

THE ELEPHANT'S FOOT 

From these subterranean creatures it is a great 
leap to the hugest of all land animals, but the 
elephant can never be overlooked and his round 
or broadly oval foot makes an interesting con- 
trast to those just considered. Our first glimpse 
gives us its explanation in that it strongly sug- 
gests the base of a column, as well it may, 
since four of them must sustain a weight of 






FEET 



173 



several tons. As the elephant does not strike, 
catch, dig nor climb with his feet he does not 
need claws, nor even an elongated foot, but 
pnre support he must have, so his feet are ideal 




The Elephant's Foot 
Pure support. 

for such a simple purpose, large and flat, dis- 
tributing the load over a wide, cushioned sur- 
face and protected by broad nails which show 
where the massive toe-bones terminate. 



174 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



These cushioned feet ? which are esteemed a 
delicacy by hunters and natives, leave tracks 
which tell the experienced trailer much about 
his game, since twice their circumference is about 
equal to the elephant's shoulder height and the 
female's footprint is more oval than that of the 
male. 

THE CAMEL ? S FOOT 

Close to the elephants in the circus-parade 




The Camel's Two-Toed, Single-Padded Foot 

come the camels and although these big animals 
have little in common, Young America is apt to 



FEET 175 

associate them. Very different are the padded 
toes and easy swing of the camel from the ele- 
phant's ponderous, flat-footed movements, as 
different as are their lives and their needs. 

No one need be told that the camel is fitted 
for desert life and the average person will cite 
its power to store away water in proof of this. 
But the feet are quite as much of an indication. 
Two toes which expand under the weight of a 
step and yet do not separate since they are 
joined beneath by a single broad, spongy pad; 
these make an admirable footing in the yielding 
sand where a horse's small hoof would sink at 
every step. On the other hand the camel's foot 
would be too soft for much service upon hard 
roads and would be awkward in slippery mud. 
For such purposes as these we must turn to a 
great variety of hard-hoofed animals. 

THE HOESE'S FOOT 

Of these the horse is the most familiar. Here 
is a compact hoof, small enough to be moved with 
great quickness and hard enough to stand the 
steady pounding of swift running on solid roads. 
This pounding would give a most unpleasant jar 
at every step but for a beautiful device of great 
simplicity, which absorbs much of the concussion, 
like a carriage spring. Have you ever wondered 
why the horse's hoof instead of being directly 
beneath in the line of the leg is placed somewhat 



176 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

in advance? Notice how in walking the fetlock- 
joint sinks and rises at every step and yon will 
see why the hard blow of the hoof in running is 
still elastic and tireless. All of this tells ns the 
same story as do his broad nostrils, namely that 
the horse is built for long continued speed, and 
paleontologists have given ns an interesting side- 
light by studying the foot-bones of his most an- 
cient ancestors. 

At some period farther back than we can well 
imagine, back in the shades of that dim distance 
when huge reptiles roamed and ruled the Earth, 
there appeared a little mammal, not larger than 
a fox, with a somewhat horse-like head, four toes 
upon its feet and the rudiments of a fifth. This 
ancient creature could not have possessed the 
speed and endurance of its descendants, but must 
have walked upon soft soil where spreading toes 
would be of value. Later ages brought changes 
of surrounding and doubtless new enemies to 
be avoided, for the defenseless little mammal 
began to run more swiftly and its fifth toe no 
longer touching the ground grew smaller and dis- 
appeared. Meanwhile the third toe which now 
bore greater weight grew in length and strength 
and in the size of its nail. More and more grew 
the speed as later ages joined the long procession, 
until the second and fourth toes became in turn 
of no account, when like the fifth they too passed 
away. The remaining one increased to meet 






FEET 



177 



the added responsibilities, while its nail devel- 
oped at last into the powerful hoof of our pres- 
ent-day horse. Two little splints of bone still 
seen in the skeleton of the horse between the fet- 
lock and what we call his knee are all that remain 
to tell us of the long vanished toes. 

THE COW'S FOOT 

Next in familiarity are the double hoofs of 
the cows, and we can realize at once how much 




The Cow's Divided Hoof 



superior is their spreading foothold for placid 
wandering in soft meadow lands. The shorter, 



178 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

thicker fetlock tells also that support instead 
of springy speed is the main purpose, while two 
hard little points at this joint show that the 
other toes have not so completely disappeared. 



THE DEER ? S FOOT 



The hoof of the deer has some of the charac- 
teristics of both horse and cow hoof. Compact 
and elegant like the former, with a long, springy 
hock to absorb concussion it is also double, or 
cleft, like that of the cow. And all because the 
deer in spite of his occasional bursts of speed, 
prefers forest shades to open country and must 
move with ease over the yielding mould. A 
horse which might run down a stag upon the 
highway would quickly be left behind in wood- 
land. 

But there are varieties, such as the reindeer 
and caribou, which roam the reaches of the far 
North. Here through many months of the year 
the surface of all the land is deep in snow and 
just as man has devised the snow-shoe, Nature, 
ages earlier, applied a similar principle to the 
footing of these her children. A foot so broadly 
spreading, assisted by small lateral hoofs make 
the reindeer at such times practically a four- 
toed animal. Thus is the weight well distributed, 
and he runs so easily over soft or slippery foot- 
ing that Northern races of mankind use him as 
we domesticate the horse. 



FEET 179 

These hoofs are also of value in digging for 
his favorite moss when covered with snow. 

THE KOCKY MOUNTAIN GOAT 's FOOT 

Every one knows how much the common goat 
enjoys a chance to climb, but the mountain cousin 
has privileges in this respect far beyond the 
facilities of "Shantytown." His tiny hoofs find 
foothold upon such narrow ledges that some- 
times his powers seem truly miraculous as he 
scrambles up or down the face of some wall of 
rock. Moreover his feet are placed almost di- 
rectly in the line of his stocky legs, instead of at 
the usual hoof-angle. This gives them a firmer 
hold in climbing. 

In this respect he contrasts with those other 
mountain dwellers the chamois, ibex and big- 
horn which have strong, elastic, shock-absorbing 
joints, and make almost incredible leaps among 
the rocks. An ibex has been seen to spring 
down a perpendicular height of fully forty feet 
and alight easily and gracefully — an achieve- 
ment which the goat would not attempt. 

Ex-President Eoosevelt and John Burroughs 
once had an impressive demonstration of the 
"big-horn's" ability in this respect in Yellow- 
stone Park. The canon at this point is five or 
six hundred feet deep. As Mr. Burroughs de- 
scribes it: "Across the canon in front of our 
Camp ... a band of mountain sheep soon 



180 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

attracted our attention. . . . We speculated 
as to whether the sheep could get down the al- 
most perpendicular face of the chasm to the river 
to drink. It seemed to me impossible. "Would 
they try it while we were there to see? We all 
hoped so ; and sure enough, late in the afternoon 
the word came to our tents that the sheep were 
coming down. The President, with his coat off 
and a towel around his neck, was shaving. One 
side of his face was half shaved, and the other 
side lathered. Hofer and I started for a point 
on the brink of the canon where we could have a 
better view. 

" 'By Jove,' said the President, 'I must see 
that. The shaving can wait and the sheep 
won't.' 

"Soon he came, accoutered as he was, — coat- 
less, hatless, but not latherless nor towelless. 
Like the rest of us his only thought was to see 
those sheep do their ' stunt. ' With glasses in hand 
we watched them descend those perilous heights, 
leaping from point to point, finding a foothold 
where none appeared to our eyes, loosening frag- 
ments of the crumbling rocks as they came, now 
poised upon some narrow shelf and preparing 
for the next leap, zigzagging or plunging straight 
down till the bottom was reached, and not one 
accident or misstep amid all that insecure foot- 
ing. I think the President was the most pleased 
of us all; he laughed with the delight of it, and 






FEET 181 

quite forgot his need of a hat and eoat until I sent 
for them. 

' ' In the night we heard the sheep going back ; 
we could tell by the noise of the falling stone. 
In the morning I confidently expected to see some 
of them lying dead at the foot of the cliffs, but 
there they all were at the top once more, appar- 
ently safe and sound." * 

THE CHICKEN'S FOOT 

All of the foregoing types have been taken 
from among the four-footed mammals but there 
are many others quite as characteristic in the 
great bird family. We must not omit to glance 
at several of these in our hasty view. 

Here is an entirely different plan for a foot: 
no hoof, no sole, merely a spreading bunch of 
slender toes. We see at once that it gives great 
support in proportion to its weight and realize 
that a chicken must make two feet do the work 
for which quadrupeds have four. Still there is 
another reason for its peculiar form, one which 
is common to most of the birds. Did you ever 
examine the severed foot of a fowl? From the 
cut end of the leg you have doubtless noticed the 
stiff projecting tendons, and you may have 
amused yourself by pulling them and making 
the toes contract. You could pick up a stick 

i John Burroughs in The Atlantic Monthly. 



182 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

by making the toes grasp it in this manner, and 
it is just because the birds so generally perch 
at night that the toes are thus arranged for 
grasping. At first thought it might seem a trifle 
strange that a bird should be able to sleep 
soundly in a position which compelled it to hold 
so tightly. In sleep one relaxes every muscle, 
yet a bird would fall if it loosened but a little; 
but here again is one of those beautiful devices 
of Nature, for it is just in its relaxation that the 
bird gains its strongest hold. The tendons al- 
ready spoken of run back over the joint to con- 
nect with the muscles of the "drum-stick" and 
thus in bending the leg the tendons are tightened 
and the toes must draw together. When the 
chicken settles back upon its perch its weight 
keeps the leg sharply bent and thus the toes are 
tightly locked until it stands up again to release 
them. It is a simple principle and as perfect as 
simple. 

Chickens, living so much upon the ground, have 
naturally short, scratching nails instead of the 
longer claws of tree birds. 

THE OSPKEY'S FOOT 

Birds of prey use their feet in a much more 
forceful way, and when swooping from their ob- 
servation height it is with talons that the victim 
is seized. We are therefore not surprised to find 
the feet of large size, very powerful and armed 






FEET 183 

with great curved claws, which entering the flesh 
from different angles make escape impossible. 

The osprey or fishing-hawk has an especially 
difficult task. Winging over a lake or river, his 
sharp eyes watch intently for some fish to ap- 
proach the surface when dropping like a stone he 
strikes the water with widely spread toes which 
contract the moment they touch the victim. But 
any one who has tried to catch a minnow in a 
bait-pail realizes that a slippery fish is particu- 
larly hard to capture and hold. Hence the os- 
prey has the lower surface of his toes roughened 
with small knobs or tubercles, and he is remark- 
able among the hawks in having an outer toe 
which can be turned backward to a position 
parallel with the hinder one, so as to grasp with 
two front and two rear toes. 

Only too often the osprey must lose his hard- 
won breakfast to some robber eagle which strikes 
at the fisher until his prey is dropped when he 
retrieves it with a mighty swoop before it 
touches the surface. To the shame of our Na- 
tional bird be it admitted that he is prone to 
such bullying tactics ; but fortunately the water 
is populous and the osprey rarely goes long un- 
fed. 

Sometimes, however, he tackles a task too large 
for him. Dan Beard gives an instance of one 
near Atlantic Highlands which "had been seen 
to swoop down into the waters of the bay, im- 



184 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



bedding its talons in a huge plaice. The bird 
rose with its prey, but the fish's weight was too 
great and dragged down the hawk. Several 
times the osprey struggled to ascend, but failed 
and at length became exhausted, and fell into the 







The Eagle's Powerful Talons 

water still clinging to its captive. The bird's 
talons were so imbedded in the fish that it could 
not release them and it was drowned. The fish 
also died and both were washed ashore, and with 
difficulty were separated." 

He also speaks of seeing "a hawk again and 



FEET 185 

again pulled under water by a big fish in Yellow- 
stone Lake. The osprey several times lifted the 
fish from the water, but such was its weight that 
the bird could only succeed in carrying the fish 
a few yards at a time; at length the prey was 
allowed to drop again in the waves and the ex- 
hausted bird had just sufficient strength left to 
reach the shore where it literally fell upon a dead 
limb of a small tree. ' ' * 

It is interesting to note that vultures and 
other carrion-eaters, which rarely kill for them- 
selves, have in general much weaker feet and 
talons than those of the true bird of prey. 

THE DUCK'S FOOT 

Here again the plan and the purpose change, 
and we find the front toes joined by a web of 
skin which suggests a use quite different from 
grasping. No one need be told of this use for 
the duck and other water-fowl are among the 
most familiar bird forms. Everywhere the 
water abounds with attractive food and nearly 
everywhere are birds adapted to secure it. With 
a body rounded like the hull of a boat, legs set 
far back like its propeller and a foot which cuts 
forward folded into a thin wedge and kicks back- 
ward with a broad webbed surface — how clumsy 
our oars and paddles must seem to this graceful 

1 Dan Beard's Animal Book. Moffat, Yard & Co., New York. 



186 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

living craft! Man, the never-satisfied land ani- 
mal, must navigate with artificial aids, while the 
duck, content to have his thinking done for him, 
placidly makes use of the perfect device of Na- 
ture and stays willingly in the surroundings for 
which he is best fitted. 

THE JACANA'S FOOT 

There is a curious little bird, which may in 
some sense be called a water-fowl, since he haunts 
the broad-leafed water vegetation of certain 




The Leaf-Treading Toes of the Jacana 



tropical countries. His strange feet are of such 
remarkable size, have such extremely long, 
spreading toes which are still so slender and 
weak, that it is evident they are designed for 
no ordinary purpose. Surely there is nothing 
ordinary in a life spent in stepping from one to 



FEET 187 

another of the broad floating pads of water- 
plants in search of food, and it would be clearly 
impossible were not the foot designed to dis- 
tribute his weight over a wide surface. It is 
practically the snow-shoe principle once more. 

THE GROUSE 's FOOT 

But here is a true bird snow-shoe. The grouse 
travels in the summer time upon bare and slen- 
der toes, but meets the snows of winter by de- 
veloping broad toe fringes which more than 
double its foothold. As it is distinctly a ground 
bird and lives where snowfall is heavy, this is 
a useful provision. 

THE OSTRICH FOOT 

With many others to choose from we will take 
but one more bird-foot and that place seems to 
belong by right to the giant of the group — the 
ostrich. This extraordinary bird is remarkable 
for the fact that his beautiful plumed wings are 
useless for flight; but Nature, having deprived 
him of one mode of travel has developed his 
running ability to a point where he rivals the 
horse in speed, or even "scorneth the horse and 
his rider" as we read in Job. 

We have already seen how the horse devel- 
oped his speed at the expense of his toes until 
he now runs upon a single toe-nail (or hoof) for 



188 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

each foot. The ostrich seems to be in a some- 
what similar process of change. Having started 
in his earliest ancestry with a probable five toes, 
there now remain but two, and one of these is so 
small, nailless and rudimentary as to suggest that 
it also may disappear in time. The great run- 
ning toe is strong and padded like the camel's, 
fit for high speed in desert wastes and armed 
with such a powerful claw that the big bird's 
forward kick may kill a man. 

It does not seem possible that evolution can 
carry it much farther since the ostrich has only 
two feet to stand on instead of the horse's four, 
and could not well afford to lose the support of 
his toe-pad in developing a terminal hoof. 

THE TKEE FKOG's FOOT 

We shall pause for but two other forms from 
among the lower animals : both of these, belong- 
ing to species of tree frogs, are strikingly dif- 
ferent from all so far considered. 

At the end of each tiny toe in the more 
familiar variety is a little fleshy disk which has 
the power to adhere by suction to smooth sur- 
faces, so that the owner may climb with ease or 
sit securely upon a swaying, glossy leaf, where 
no other type of foot could give support. 




THE RUNNING TOES OF THE OSTRICH 

This Foot Is a Dangerous Weapon Capable of Breaking Bones. In Taking 

this Picture the Bird's Head and Neck were Held down, thus 

Rendering him Helpless 



FEET 189 

THE FLYING- FEOG'S FOOT 

The other one has possibly the strangest foot 
in all the great field of animals. Not strange 
in shape especially, for it is somewhat like the 
webbed foot of the swimming frogs, but to real- 
ize that this specimen from Java is a small living 
aeroplane and can launch himself from tree-tops 
in gliding flights upon the webbed surface of 
his outspread feet, is almost staggering. Yet 
such is the well-proved fact. 

THE HUMAN FOOT 

The insect world contains many interesting 
types of feet which will repay the use of the 
microscope but we are confining ourselves at 
present to those which our own eyes may notice 
and interpret. We too of the human race are 
animals, and our feet, which are quite as sig- 
nificant as any of the others, may well close this 
hasty survey. 

Notice then that all of us, even the most aristo- 
cratic, have feet which average much larger in 
proportion to body weight than those of most 
other animals. A fact easily explained by the 
necessity of making two feet do the work of four. 

Man must not only support his 150 or more 
pounds upon two feet, he must also be able to 
raise his entire weight upon a single foot in 
taking a forward step. Two things then are re- 



190 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

quired to start with — surface and strength; 
and two other requirements follow from man's 
activity — ease of movement and adaptability. 
Probably few have stopped to realize how well 
their feet are planned for all of their needs. 

A shoe-print tells us little — man's foot was not 
designed for shoes — but the print of a naked foot 
shows that only a portion of the lower surface 
makes its mark, viz.: the pads of the toes, the 
ball, the narrow outer curve of the sole and about 
half of the heel. The whole effect is long and 
narrow, a shape which makes for activity and 
precision. A broad, clumsy foot would have to 
be swung sidewise in running, in order not to 
interfere. The heel cannot press flatly upon 
the ground since in walking it strikes the ground 
a]t an angle and must be rounded for easy action. 
We see this by the way in which the heels of our 
shoes wear round with much walking. Again 
the hollow between heel and ball speaks of the 
arch of the instep which rises above it. This 
upward curve resting upon its two ends has long 
been recognized in engineering as a form of great 
strength and elasticity. "Without it the step 
would lose most of its spring. The step which 
begins at the heel passes off at the ball, at 
which time the whole weight rests so well forward 
that we can understand its breadth and the need 
of the spreading, downward-pressed toes which 
assist it. And finally the separate action of the 



FEET 191 

five movable toes makes it possible for man to 
adapt himself to a great variety of surfaces and 
find foothold where a solid foot would slip. 
Primitive, unshod man did not have smooth 
floors and pavements prepared for his feet. 

These are but a few of the more obvious facts 
about those faithful members which we imprison, 
squeeze and otherwise abuse, but we are looking 
with the eyes of amateurs not specialists, and 
must not longer delay to bring our subject to a 
far-from-completed close. 




CHAPTER IX 

TAILS 

' AN has no tail although the 
two end bones of his spinal 
column, the coccyx and 
sacrum, are said to suggest 
his kinship with tail-bear- 
ing creatures. But once 
step below man in the great 
kingdom of vertebrates and 
the presence of tails be- 
comes so nearly universal that their absence 
here and there occasions surprise. No other 
member shows such differences in form, no other 
member has such a variety of uses ; and though 
most animals might lose the tail through acci- 
dent and still survive, it would generally be a 
serious loss. 

The limits of a chapter give all too brief a 
glimpse of this subject; we can select but a few 
of the more characteristic types, but here again 
we leave to the possessor of sharp eyes and a 
ready query a rich field for the application of 
his "Why." 

192 



TAILS 193 

THE CAT'S TAIL 

This is not one of the more important tails 
for the bobtailed Manx looks generally as sleek 
and self-satisfied as any of her cousins, but it 
has an undoubted value in the matter of balance. 
A cat with her hunting nature is a creature of 
stealthy approach and sudden spring. Every 
movement must be calculated to a nicety. A 
well-fed cat rubbing contentedly against a dining- 
room chair commonly carries her tail aloft, but 
the hunting cat or the cat on a back yard fence 
has an extended tail suggesting the balancing 
pole of the tight-rope walker, and when she lights 
from a spring the dropping of the tail helps to 
check the forward motion and aid in precision. 
A cat which has recently lost her tail is at first 
apt to tumble forward in springing. 

And then there is another use — a rather curi- 
ous one. The cat's tail is an emotional safety 
valve. Did you ever observe the twitching tail 
of a cat about to spring? "Why? Notice the 
blazing eyes, the gathered muscles and see how 
excitement is written in every line. A dog in the 
excitement of the chase will give noisy vent to 
his feelings; but the cat does not openly chase, 
she must remain silent and the noiseless twitch- 
ing of that tail helps to relieve too great a ten- 
sion. 



194 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

The well-known swelling of the tail when angry 
or frightened is due of course to nothing more 
than the contraction of skin muscles by which 
the hair is erected. 



THE DOG'S TAIL 

Here is another of the less important tails, 
generally considered, and yet what an eloquent 
one! How we would miss the joyous, waving 
greeting of "our friend, the dog," for the whole 
of his affectionate, demonstrative nature seems 
summed up in that rapid vibration. Even a dog 
shorn of his tail may be seen to twitch his rump 
muscles as he wags an imaginary tail to greet 
his master. 

The explanation for this habit is much as in 
the case of the cat — the tail is an emotional out- 
let. Hinged at one end and free to swing it is 
the most natural means for expressing surplus 
spirits, and is usually the first member in mo- 
tion. For this reason, too, it is of value in sig- 
naling. Dogs are gregarious and always feel 
an interest in their kind, but with their differ- 
ences of disposition it is desirable to gain some 
indication of one another's intention before too 
close approach. The amiably disposed dog 
comes trotting up with a wagging tail but will 
stop suspiciously unless his signal of friendship 



TAILS 195 

is returned. On the other hand a dog in full 
retreat drops his tail or puts it between his legs, 
as an instinctive precaution from his wild state, 
against the teeth or claws of some enemy. 

When the weather is cold a dog in lying down 
will curl his tail about him for added warmth, 
and if this member be shaggy, it will prove no 
inconsiderable protection particularly to his 
moist, sensitive nose which still retains its power 
of scent behind the hairy tip. 

THE RAT'S TAIL 

The viewpoint of the cat and dog upon the 
subject of the rat is rather a different one from 
our own, for to them it is an altogether de- 
lightful addition to the attractions of a house, 
a sentiment which the rodent does not recipro- 
cate. 

The rat's tail is long, slim and skinny as every- 
one knows and for obvious reasons. It, too, is 
a creature of stealth, driven often to perilous 
footing where balancing aid is valuable, and re- 
quiring to drag its long tail through many dirty 
passage-ways where a bushy tail would quickly 
soil. This slippery, tapering tail sheds dirt with 
ease and affords slight hold for the enemy when 
its owner is accomplishing one of its many hair- 
breadth escapes. 



196 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



THE HORSE'S TAIL 



The horse and the rat have little in common 
save the bag of grain which each enjoys, and 
their difference is especially marked in their tails. 
The purpose of the horse's tail appears plainly 
enough in fly time. The horse has a sensitive 
skin which suffers keenly from insect bites yet 
he is not agile enough to reach the surface of 
his large body with head or feet. Hence that 
tail is at some times in almost incessant use, and 
few things are more inexcusable than the fashion 
of docking the tails of carriage horses while clip- 
ping close the hair which is their only other pro- 
tection. 

The horse is able to move his tail with such 
rapidity because its fleshy portion is short and 
muscular, while the long, coarse hairs add but 
little to the weight and yet spread to cover a 
wide surface in striking. 

The cow, less sensitive and more thickly 
coated has in her longer, heavier tail with its 
smaller tuft a much inferior fly whisk. 

THE SQUIRREL'S TAIL 

Leaving the domestic "Zoo" and returning to 
the tribe of rodents, there is a little fellow in our 
tree-tops whose sufe-footedness puts even the 
cat to blush. Have you ever watched from some 
hammock nook a squirrel traveling his aerial 



TAILS 



197 



highway overhead ? How swiftly he races along 
a slender bough ; how unerringly he leaps to the 
next one ; passing from tree to tree with the pre- 
cision of an arrow. Of an arrow, yes that is 
the word, for strip the feathered tip from an 
arrow and it will wobble in its flight, and cut 
the feathery tail, which gives him accuracy, from 
our saucy little visitor — if you can be so cruel — 
and he too would become relatively clumsy. He 




The Balancing Tail of the Squirrel 



might also forget his impudence in sudden doubt 
of the agile superiority over lumbering humans 
which now he expresses in every contemptuous 
whisk and chatter. 

It is this same graceful member, by-the-way, 
which supplies him with a name. "Squirrel" 
comes from the Greek "Skiouros" which in turn 
is derived from "Skio" (shade) and "Oura" (a 
tail) so that the squirrel is literally an animal 
"shaded by its tail," referring doubtless to his 
appearance when sitting up. 



198 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

THE BEAVER'S TAIL 

His distant cousin, the beaver, sports a very 
different kind of tail, if such a frivolous word 
as sport may be applied to this sober, industri- 
ous and highly respectable animal. 

While the squirrel races among the leaves and 
indulges in scampish practices toward birds' 
nests the beaver is working marvels of engineer- 
ing in the stream below. From the fact that his 
dam is plastered with mud and that his broad, 
flat, naked tail is strongly suggestive of a ma- 
son's trowel it has been widely supposed that 
he used it for that purpose. Unfortunately ob- 
servation does not bear this out and we are 
forced to look farther since it is not to be sup- 
posed that such a distinctive member is without 
its use. This use seems to be threefold. First, 
and possibly most important, the beaver does 
much of his work when erect upon his short hind 
legs. In felling a large tree this may be the slow, 
patient labor of many hours, and nothing could 
be better as a sustaining prop than this wide, 
strong tail. Secondly, he is largely aquatic and 
finds his tail useful in diving, useful as a rudder 
and also, it may be, as a scull when swimming 
below the surface. 

The third use is a startling one to the unpre- 
pared auditor. One such (Mr. H. P. Wells) 
has described it in the following words : . . . 



TAILS 199 

"The many sounds which at night characterize 
the woods on the confines of civilization are want- 
ing in the forests of the wilderness. In the ab- 
sence of wind the silence is that of death itself — 
like the Egyptian darkness, it seems as though 
it could actually be felt. And so the canoe steals 
slowly on, as silent as the shadow of a cloud, its 
occupants, their nerves at the highest tension, 
straining their ears to detect at the earliest pos- 
sible moment the presence of the game they 
seek. Suddenly, without the slightest warning, 
the death-silence is broken by a sound, as though 
the guardian angel of the deer tribe had hurled 
a stone about two feet in diameter into the water 
in the immediate vicinity of the canoe. It is 
the protest of the beaver against the invasion of 
his domain. 

"I had heard this sound many times. . . . 
It seemed incredible to me that an animal less 
than three feet long could make a noise the size 
of a two-story house. But one moonlight night 
we stole on a beaver swimming in a narrow 
stream. Xot till the stem of the canoe was 
within five feet of it did it detect our presence. 
Then down went its head, and rounding up its 
back, it struck a violent blow upon the water 
with its tail and vanished. I was liberally show- 
ered and thoroughly convinced at one and the 
same moment. 

"AVhen excited or alarmed a beaver will some- 



200 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

times continue this performance, easily audible 
for half a mile or more, at half -minute intervals, 
for ten consecutive minutes." * 

The muskrat has a similar trick but cannot 
make so great a noise with its slender tail. In 
both cases the sound is doubtless intended as a 
danger signal to other members of the tribe 
within hearing. 

THE MONKEY'S TAIL. 

Up in the tree-tops again, although not in the 
northern latitudes, will be found most of the 
members of the monkey tribe, and if there is 
one creature more at home among the branches 
than even a squirrel, it is the monkey. Like the 
squirrel too his character is marked by gayety, 
impudence and mischief and indeed there is much 
in their modes of life to account for such a na- 
ture — no need to run or hide from enemies like 
the animals of the surface, for with the exhila- 
rating freedom of the wide tree-tops and an agil- 
ity which can laugh at all ordinary pursuers 
there is small wonder that life should appear to 
be something of a frolic. 

With most tree monkeys the tail is of value 
as a balance, but among the American repre- 
sentatives are found the wonderful prehensile 
tails which reach their highest development in 

i H. P. Wells in Harper's Monthly. 



TAILS 201 

that of the spider monkey — almost a " fifth 
hand" as it is often called. As it curls and 
waves in restless motion, the long, thin hairs at 
the end act in a measure as feelers and tell of 
any branch they may chance to brush, when the 
flexible tail easily encircles it in a grasp so firm 
that the monkey may loose the hold of all four 
feet and swing securely thus suspended. And 
furthermore this selfsame tail may be used to 
bring food to the mouth almost like an elephant's 
trunk. As it moves about among the branches 
its exquisite sense of touch may discover some 
edible dainty — an egg perhaps — in a crevice too 
small for the hand, and the tail-tip is able to 
hook it deftly out. 

It is interesting to notice that as the grasping 
tail has become more highly developed the grasp- 
ing thumb has tended to disappear, so that it 
is now only rudimentary in most of the spider 
monkeys. 

THE OPOSSUM'S TAIL 

Another flexible tail is that of the opossum 
which likes in feeding to hang from a branch, 
and sometimes grasps its food with all four of 
its hand-like feet. In some species the tail comes 
into a strange use when the mother carries her 
little ones upon her back, and it makes a curious 
sight to see her traveling along a branch, her 
back loaded with small passengers which hold 



202 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

themselves securely by wrapping their tiny tails 
tightly about the upturned tail of the mother. 
Sometimes as many as a dozen will be found 
thus enjoying their free ride in the trees, and 
this tail-wrapping arrangement serves in place 
of the pouch in which other varieties of opos- 
sums — in common with the kangaroos and most 
marsupials — carry their young. 

THE KANGAROO'S TAIL 

The kangaroo, by the way, has a tail as dis- 
tinctive as any and very different from those 
just considered. A heavy-bodied animal, with 
such tiny front legs that they are useless for 
traveling, this odd creature would seem at first 
to be almost helpless to escape pursuit; when as 
a matter of fact he has phenomenal speed and 
endurance, and can cover from twenty to thirty 
feet at a leap. Ordinary fox hounds have been 
found to stand no chance in the chase and a 
special breed of "kangaroo-hounds" has had to 
be developed from grayhound stock. In one re- 
corded case the prey led his pursuers a trip of 
twenty miles in two hours, of which two miles 
was a swim in the sea. All of which may seem 
to have little connection with the tail, and yet 
without it he would be well-nigh helpless. Every 
line in his strangely-shaped body is made with 
reference to that strong, fleshy member which 
sometimes reaches a length of 4% feet. It serves 



TAILS 203 

liim as a portable stool, and lie sits upon it as 
securely as ever man sat in an armchair; and 
when he starts off in his long, flying leaps it is 
the tail which balances him in the air and sup- 
ports him when he strikes the ground. He rests 
upon his tail in delivering those terrific down- 
ward kicks with his hind legs which make the 
hunter hesitate to come to close quarters, and 
it is also to his tail that the successful hunter 
looks for his greatest reward since kangaroo- 
tail soup is considered by epicures to be an espe- 
cially choice dish. 

THE FAT-TAILED SHEEP 's TAIL 

"We will notice but one other land mammal, 
one which uses its tail not as a whisk, a balance, 
a hand or a stool but, still more strangely, as a 
pantry — if one may use the figure — at least as a 
storehouse of nourishment. There are several 
breeds of sheep found principally in south- 
western Asia and in Egypt, which have fat tails 
weighing from 12 or 15 lbs. to an occasional 75 
or 80 lbs. ! As may be imagined such weights 
are an incumbrance to the animals and their 
masters frequently fasten boards beneath them 
to drag upon the ground and help support the 
weight. A board with wheels attached is another 
form. 

This peculiarity has been of course, largely 
increased by breeding since the tail is esteemed 



204 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

a delicacy, its fat being often used in lien of 
butter. At first it was simply Nature's method 
of storing away fat when food was plenty in 
order to help the animal survive when pasturage 
dried up. During a fast its tail would gradually 
shrink, but it could still live through famines 
in which an ordinary sheep would die. This is 
no unusual device in Nature, for the camel starts 
upon its desert trip with a well fattened hump; 
bears and many other animals lay on an extra 
supply of fat before their winter's sleep; and 
at least one other creature— the stump-tailed 
lizard — is supposed to use its tail as a store- 
house. The latter is known to endure long fasts, 
and Lydekker cites the case of one which ate only 
two or three flies during a voyage to Australia. 

THE WHALE'S TAIL 

The whale's tail, which at first glance seems 
so much like the tail of a fish, becomes, when ex- 
amined and questioned, the best kind of evidence 
that its habits and needs are entirely different. 
Fishes' tails are set vertically in the water — ■ 
that of the whale is horizontal — a fact of great 
importance. "Why? We must examine the 
breathing arrangements for answer. Fishes 
have a device for extracting the air which is in 
the water, caught and stored there largely by the 
action of waves. Eemember this when next you 
complain of a storm at sea. It is capturing air 



TAILS 205 

and bringing life to the vast population of the 
waters and they too have their rights. But the 
whale possesses no gills and can breathe only at 
the surface. He must therefore come up to the 
air every time he would fill his cavernous lungs ; 
so his whole life becomes a series of trips to the 




The Horizontal Plaxe of the Whale's Tail 

surface and back again to the depths, endlessly 
repeated. Tiresome as this may seem, the whale 
does not find it so for his flat, horizontal tail 
makes rising and sinking in the water the easiest 
of acts; probably it becomes as unconsciously 
automatic as do our motions in walking. 

THE FISH'S TAIL 

The fish proper — the true lord of the waters — 
could hardly imagine life without a tail. The 
fish is in many ways a highly favored creature. 
On hot, sticky days in summer when discomfort 
is great among us of the human race, there is 



206 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

something a bit tantalizing in standing before 
the glass front of an aquarium tank and viewing 
the complete comfort of the fishes. Clad only 
in perfectly fitting suits of smoothest scales ; sur- 
rounded by cool, clear water, which supports 
them so admirably that there need never be a 
sense of aching muscles, while yet it offers no 
resistance to their movements ; balanced by their 
fins and needing but a whisk of their flexible tails 
to send them darting across the tank ; well may we 
envy them when we compare such freedom of 
motion with our own laborious need of lifting 150 
lbs. at every step. 

And the effectiveness of that tail may also 
make us wonder that man was so long in invent- 
ing the propeller. For countless ages, millions 
of fishes have been flashing through the water, 
not by making a great disturbance at their sides 
like side-wheel steamers, but with an easy, wav- 
ing, curling motion of their tails that is more 
than a little suggestive of a propeller's action. 

THE STING-RAY'S TAIL 

We enter the subject of weapon tails while 
still in the world of fishes. The sting-ray would 
hardly be recognized for a fish at first sight with 
its flat body, broad side flaps and a long, taper- 
ing tail like a whip lash. Eeason tells us that 
such a tail could not be used for swimming and 
judgment adds that Nature would hardly have 



TAILS 207 

made it so prominent without some special pur- 
pose, but we might hardly guess what that pur- 
pose is without examination. Then we would 
see that this strange creature, apparently so 
inactive and harmless carries really in that tail 
a deadly weapon in the shape of a dagger-like 
poison spine. The long tail is used to wrap 
about its victim and force it upon this spine 
with fearful effect. 

THE SCOKPION's TAIL 

Another weapon tail is borne by the familiar 
scorpion common to many of the warmer coun- 
tries, and ranging from small species to tropical 
monsters of 9 inches. These dreaded pests 
have a long- jointed tail armed with a sharp, 
down-curved sting at its tip so highly poisonous 
as to make a dangerous wound. In striking, the 
tail is raised above the back and brought down 
with force sufficient to drive in the sting-point. 

THE ALLIGATOB'S TAIL 

A still more formidable weapon is that of the 
alligator. When seen lying like a log on the 
bank of a southern river he appears too inert 
to be of special danger. Under such conditions 
he will indeed, if possible, take to the water 
where he is most at home, but if cornered it will 
be a rash man who will come within the reach 



208 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



of that powerful tail. Broad, hard and tre- 
mendously muscled it can be swung like the 
club of a giant, disabling a man or even a larger 
animal. Smaller creatures would be swept into 
the water where they would become an easy prey 
for the monster — as swift and active there as he 
is unwieldy on shore. His swimming speed, too, 
is largely due to his tail, although his feet are 




The Formidable Weapon Tail of the Alligator 



webbed. But they are small in proportion to his 
great, compressed tail which with its broad, flat 
surface and enormous strength is an effective 
sculler. It has been flippantly suggested that 
the alligator has thus a skull at both ends. 

A smaller reptile, the monitor, has a very 
long, tough tail, slender as the thong of a whip, 
and by lashing with it fiercely he deals stinging 
blows. 



TAILS 209 

THE RATTLESNAKE'S TAIL 

But if the tail may be a formidable weapon, 
it may also become a warning of danger. Our 
rather unpopular compatriot, the rattlesnake, 
stands the tip of his tail erect and vibrates it 
so rapidly that its loose, horny rings shake 
together with a peculiar, keen, hissing buzz, apt 
to suggest to the one who hears it that he has 
urgent business elsewhere. This seems at first 
to be the purest chivalry of a creature un- 
willing to act the part of an assassin, but one 
glance at the hard glitter of his eyes dispels 
such a thought. The warning has saved many 
from danger — perhaps from death — but the 
rattler is less concerned in others' safety than 
in his own. Heavy-bodied and clumsy he might 
be accidentally trodden upon by some larger ani- 
mal, and even if he punished such mischance with 
deadly poison it would be little satisfaction if 
he were also maimed. Most snakes will avoid 
an encounter, but the rattler, less agile than 
some, finds it of value occasionally to threaten 
the careless intruder, and this threat is pretty 
widely understood in Animal World. 

It is popularly supposed that one may learn the 
age of a rattler by counting the rattles and allow- 
ing one year for each. This is not accurate 
for under favorable circumstances as many as 
three may be formed in a year and it is common 



210 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

for the end rattles to become broken off after 
nine or ten are formed. More than ten are rare 
in any instance, although there is said to be one 
case on record showing thirty. 



THE GKEEN LIZAKD'S TAIL 






If a pnrsner should catch a man's coat-tails 
and these should tear off in his hands allowing 
the man to escape, it would not speak well for 
the quality of the cloth; yet the little green 
lizard, together with some of his cousins, occa- 
sionally finds a somewhat similar arrangement 
of great value. His tail is long and graceful — 
a tail to be proud of — but it is far better to let 
part of it go than to become himself the prey 
for some prowling appetite. Also, through a 
kind provision of Nature, he need not appear 
unfashionable for long, since she begins to renew 
for him that which was lost, and at last he has 
again nearly as proud a tail as before. The 
detached tails of some of the lizards are said 
to twist vigorously in the hands of their would-be 
captors for some little time, thus distracting 
attention and giving the owner a chance to make 
good his escape. 



THE FLYEK'S TAIL 



From the lizards through the long processes 
of evolution came the birds, so scientists tell us, 
and fossil remains show how steering feathers 






TAILS 



211 



began to appear in the tails of some of the 
ancient flying creatures, half-reptile, half-bird, 
before the age of man. From these have come 
at last the adjustable tails of present-day birds. 

4 




The Action of the Pigeon's Tail in Lighting 



Aviators have learned that their most difficult 
problem is not that of rising into the air, but of 
controlling and guiding flight. The air is full of 
currents which must be taken into account, and 
the bird does instinctively what man is working 
out through study and experiment. 



212 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

For this purpose and especially in checking 
and steering flight in landing, the tail is invalua- 
ble, since its long, strong feathers can be opened 
or closed like a fan, or somewhat raised or 
lowered if desired. It is easy to observe the 
action in a flock of pigeons. Some pigeons have 
indeed been developed into grotesque distortions 
by pigeon-fanciers but the searcher for "Whys" 
should not be misled by changes wrought by the 
hand of man. There is a great difference in the 
flying agility of different birds. Those which 
turn and twist in the air with the greatest free- 
dom are usually long tailed, while straight flyers, 
like the grebes, have generally much less devel- 
opment of these aerial rudders. 

THE WOODPECKER'S TAIL 

Our energetic little friend the woodpecker 
adds still another valuable characteristic. 
When engaged in his earnest quest of the in- 
sects which we so gladly spare him from our 
trees, he needs strong support for the vigorous 
hammering of his wedge-like bill. For this pur- 
pose he has large feet and sharp claws, but it 
will be noticed that he also presses his tail 
against the bark, and one who will examine it 
will learn the reason, for the tail has stiff quill 
points which help support him like the climb- 
ing-irons of telegraph line-men. 



TAILS 



213 




\l4 ■ 'fa- ■ 



faK^i 



111 3: 



fig 




The Ornamental Tail of the Lyre Bird 



214 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

THE LYRE-BIRD ? S TAIL 

But in concluding it must not be forgotten that 
beauty as well as usefulness has a part in the 
plan of Nature. Indeed Nature often makes 
beauty a factor in usefulness; for the bright 
colors of the flowers attract the insects which 
transfer the pollen from one blossom to another, 
while the glorious wings of the butterfly help to 
blend it with the blossoms and so conceal it. 
So also is the brilliant plumage of many birds 
a feature of the courtship which Nature uses to 
preserve the race. 

The lyre-birds of Australia have little beauty 
apart from their tails, but these, in the males, 
are wonderful structures of such grace (sug- 
gesting the sweeping curves of the ancient 
lyre) that they are most attractive to the plain 
but critical female, and also, alas, to the human 
collector. As the lyre-bird carries its tail erect it 
is evident enough that he cannot be a tree 
dweller — such a lofty structure would not be 
adapted to life among branches — so we are not 
surprised to find that he is a swift ground runner. 
The peacock with his still more wonderful dis- 
play is unfortunately out of our subject. His 
beautiful plumes are really not a tail at all and 
the short stiff tail which supports them has no 
attractiveness. 




<^ 



CHAPTER X 

COVERINGS 

VERY animal is a package, 
with the most valuable por- 
tions inside and much at- 
tention paid to the wrap- 
ping. There are naturally 
wide differences in the cov- 
erings according to the dif- 
ferent conditions to be met, 
and each great group has 
its characteristic form. Thus there is Hair for 
the Mammals; Feathers for the Birds; bare, em- 
bossed or scaly Skin for the Reptiles and sepa- 
rable Scales for the Fish; not to speak of the 
Shells of many Molluscs and the "Exterior 
Skeleton" of the hard-bodied Insects. Within 
these groups there is great variation of degree 
and arrangement making this subject a most 
important one. 

THE CAT'S COAT 

Nothing could look much less like protection 
than one individual hair. If the problem of 

215 



216 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

clothing a large section of the animal world had 
been given to us and we had known nothing of 
hair, it is perhaps the very last device our inven- 
tion could have hit upon. But Nature is wiser 
than her children and now that we have a chance 
to study it, what could be more admirable? 
Take the case of the cat. From head to tip of 
tail there is one unbroken covering consisting 
of an incredible number of fine, soft hairs, each 
one springing from it% separate root which con- 
tinues to renew it as the end may wear or 
break — oh, the infinite care of Nature! — and 
all set so closely that it is hard to find the skin. 
A cat needs warmth, flexibility and smoothness 
and her coat gives them all; warmth, because 
the crowded hairs confine a great deal of finely 
divided air-space, that best of heat insulation 
which keeps the body warmth from being lost; 
flexibility, since the separate hairs are too soft 
and fine to offer resistance to the quick, lithe 
movements, and smoothness, in that each of them 
presents an extremely small, rounded, polished 
surface offering slight hold for moisture, or 
soil, and all overlie in a continuous direction 
which makes them easy to clean. A cat will 
not tolerate dirt upon her coat and the little pink 
tongue with its rasping surface goes thoroughly 
over it very frequently. This fastidious clean- 
liness makes the animal a pleasant house com- 
panion, but it probably has its origin in an in- 



COVERINGS 217 

stinct to reduce the body odor and keep the 
warning scent from the keen nostrils of the prey 
she seeks. 

The larger members of the cat tribe belong 
mainly to the "warmer climates and hence are 
short-haired, but some specimens like the ounce, 
or Tibetan snow leopard, have long fur which 
can resist considerable cold. 

The bristling hair, in anger or alarm, already 
referred to in " Tails," is due to tightening of 
the skin muscles and is merely a physiological 
effect of this form of excitement. It also has its 
advantage, in increasing the apparent size and 
formidable aspect of the animal, and may be of 
some little use in deceiving an enemy as to the 
real location of the skin. It is said that the 
mongoose when battling with a snake, often 
makes the serpent strike short by means of its 
bristling coat. 

On the other hand the hair under any condition 
has much to do with apparent bulk. A man 
walked into a Philadelphia restaurant, some 
years ago, announcing that he had a rare animal 
in the covered basket which he carried. There 
was much curiosity as he exhibited the strange, 
skinny creature, and gave a fictitious account of 
its capture, but all agreed that they had never 
seen anything resembling it. Just then a stray 
dog wandered into the room, and seeing the 
curiosity made a joyous dash for it, while the 



218 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

latter leaped to the top of a table where it 
arched its back and spit in such a familiar man- 
ner that the by-standers realized they had been 
imposed upon with a shaved cat ! 



THE BEAVER'S FUR 






The opening up of a large portion of Canada is 
said to be due to the fur of the beaver and the 
Dominion has made the animal her crest as an 
atonement for the countless pelts which have 
been ravished within her borders. Beavers 
abounded in her lakes and rivers to an extent 
that made hunting and trapping very profitable 
and the famous Hudson Bay Company existed 
largely for this purpose. A beaver skin became 
the unit value for purposes of barter. 

And yet, at first glance, one would hardly 
think of fur value in the chunky animal with his 
long, coarse hair. This hair is strong, protect- 
ing, and sheds water easily from its polished 
surface, but concealed beneath it lies the real 
treasure — a dense pile of finest, softest fur. 
So fine is it that it was long used for making 
men's high hats, "beaver hats," until the 
cheaper silk hat was invented, and it still is a 
valuable item in the fur trade although now and 
then out of fashion. Fur-bearing animals, 
could they follow our Fashion notes, would 
probably be delighted when a receding wave of 
taste left them for the time unpopular. Here 



COVERINGS 219 

indeed is a case where the blessing designed by 
Nature to make her children warm and comfort- 
able in the midst of cold and wet, has been turned 
to a curse for them by that restless, destroying 
interloper — man. 

The beaver's cousin, the water rat, looks as 
though rubbed with mercury when seen swim- 
ming beneath the surface, for each hair is tipped 
with a tiny, attached bubble of air which helps 
protect it from the wet. One shake of its body 
when again on land sends the water flying off and 
leaves it dry. 

THE MOLE'S FUR 

There are many kinds of hair coverings, which 
increase or diminish mainly with the climate, 
from the short-haired, or sometimes nearly 
naked animals of the tropics to the long dense 
fur of arctic dwellers. This latter usually shows 
a protecting "overcoat" of strong, coarse hairs 
and warm "underwear" of very fine, densely- 
massed fur. "With a few notable exceptions such 
as the sheep, animals when yielding their coats to 
the envy of man must also yield their skins and 
their lives. It is one of the tragedies of Nature 
to see how many of them have thus been exter- 
minated in sections where they were once 
abundant. This slaughter may be somewhat 
justified in places of severe Winters, but it is 
unpleasant to think of the vast sums of money 



220 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

which many cities expend for fur coats which 
can be worn with comfort on but a few days of 
the year. 

However, this is digression, and the point to 
be noted about the mole is that his fur may be 
brushed either way without damage, lying 
smoothly toward the head or toward the tail. 
This is very different from the definite arrange- 
ment of -hair in other animals — you know how 
a cat dislikes to be brushed the wrong way — but 
it is valuable to the mole which must travel 
forward and backward in a close fitting tunnel. 
Fur of the usual kind would be quickly rough- 
ened and spoiled. 

THE ELEPHANT'S HIDE 

Living in the tropics are to be found cer- 
tain large animals grouped under the general 
term of pachyderms and including especially 
the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and 
tapir. These are practically naked for their 
sparse hairs are too few to take account of, nor 
need this surprise us when we consider the 
warmth of their climate. But protection of 
another kind they must have, for where frosts 
never come, there are myriads of biting, sting- 
ing insects and countless thorny plants and 
vines. Therefore they are pachyderms, a word 
from the Greek meaning "thick-skinned," and 
these great beasts have skin of such extraordi- 



COVERINGS 



221 




222 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

nary thickness — sometimes iy 2 inches or even 
more — that they will walk nonchalantly into a 
clump of thornbush where a man on foot or on 
horseback could hardly follow. 

They are also well protected from animal 
enemies, and an adult elephant has nothing to 
fear from any creature save man. Even a 
hunter must have a gun of special penetrating 
power if he expects to pierce that hide, and he 
takes considerable risk when he goes after the 
big game. 

When a Siberian glacier gives up the carcass 
of a huge, long-haired mammoth with much of 
the appearance of the elephant — frozen there 
many thousands of years ago — we have evi- 
dence that pachyderms are quite capable of de- 
veloping the hairy coating when living in a 
severe climate. 

Some of the big pachyderms, notably the 
rhinoceros, are often seen with attendant birds 
which perch upon their backs when at rest and 
give the alarm at the approach of the hunter. 
This is due to the parasites which lodge in 
crevices of the thick hide and are sought out 
by the birds. The crocodile birds of the Nile, 
already referred to form a somewhat similar 
partnership. 



COVERINGS 22^ 



THE WHALE'S BLUBBEB 



The still liuger whales have a covering of an 
interesting nature. Sometimes in opening par- 
cels from the store we will find packing of cot- 
ton or excelsior within the paper to protect 
the contents from damage. In very much the 
same way the whaler after cutting the skin 
finds a mass of blubber encasing the monster in 
a thick, fatty cushion of sometimes 30 tons. 
This cut into strips hoisted on board, together 
with the baleen, his interest in the "package" 
ceases and he leaves the carcass to those sea 
scavengers, the sharks and gulls, while he tries 
out the oil. In the palmy days of whaling, before 
the use of kerosene, whale-oil furnished the read- 
ing light for countless households. There is rec- 
ord of a single bow-head whale yielding 275 
barrels. 

But why should the whale possess this blub- 
ber? Hardly for the purpose of lighting the 
homes of his enemies, for here again man has 
gone counter to Nature's plan and made the 
creature suffer for what was intended to be his 
blessing — as in the case of the fur-bearers. 
Shall we say that our race has altogether blessed 
the planet it rules? The real answer as to 
blubber is one consistent with the horizontal 
tail, the air-breathing nostrils and every other 
characteristic. The whale may descend to 



224 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



s 



great depths but must come frequently to the 
surface. Water pressure varies considerably 
at different depths so that man with his most 
perfect apparatus has never been able to descend 
more than comparatively short distances. At 
a great depth his diving-bell would be crushed 
flat. Fishes that live in the deeps, being spe- 
cially designed, could not as a general rule sur- 
vive at the surface, and vice versa, but the whale 
with his fatty cushion, elastic as rubber, is pro- 
tected from sudden change of pressure. 

He is also a great traveler and is similarly 
protected from the differences in temperature 
of different latitudes. We must remember that 
it is in surface water that such differences are 
principally felt. Furthermore the whale has 
enemies in the seas against which this cushion — 
sometimes two feet thick — serves like the 
quilted armor of old Japan. Even a savage 
sword-fish running amuck, may bury his weapon 
in the great cetacean's side without fatal dam- 
age. 

THE POKCUPIKE's QUILLS 

" — And each particular hair to stand on end 
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine. ' ' 

The ghost of Hamlet's father apparently had 
not forgotten his natural history in the spirit 
world for a porcupine standing at defense and 
bristling with quills is one of the distinctive 



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COVERINGS 225 

sights among animals. With this rather un- 
couth little creature we touch a different phase 
of the subject — coverings used as protection 
not from cold or wet, but from active enemies. 
He is an interesting exception to the general 
rule, not particularly strong nor active, having 
neither dangerous claws nor jaws, living in the 
vicinity of hungry, flesh-eating animals and 
rarely trying to escape danger, one would think 
him doomed to quick extinction while as a matter 
of fact he continues placidly indifferent and 
little disturbed. A bear or lynx will take big 
risks in a farmer's barn-yard rather than meddle 
with a fat, easily captured porcupine, and all 
because set thickly among the hairs of his coat 
and tail are many sharp, barbed spikes. These 
he will erect at the approach of danger into a 
savage, bristling hedge. Moreover these spines, 
or quills, are so loosely attached to the skin that 
they stick in quantities to any hostile paw or 
jaws where the barbed points cling tenaciously 
and painfully. Small wonder then, perhaps, 
that the porcupine should not seem an attractive 
morsel to the prowlers of the forest. 

Eoosevelt, in speaking of a "bobcat" hunt, 
says: "The hounds soon picked up the trail 
again and followed it full cry; but unfortu- 
nately just before they reached where it had 
treed they ran on to a porcupine. "When we 
reached the foot of the aspen in the top of which 



220 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

the bobcat crouched, with most of the pack bay- 
ing beneath, we found the porcupine dead and 
half a dozen dogs with their muzzles and throats 
filled full of quills. Before doing anything with 
the cat it was necessary to take these quills out. 
One of the terriers, which always found porcu- 
pines an irresistible attraction, was a really ex- 
traordinary sight, so thickly were the quills 
studded over his face and chest. But a big 
hound was in even worse condition; the quills 
were stuck in abundance into his nose, lips, 
cheeks and tongue, and in the roof of his mouth 
they were almost as thick as bristles in a brush. 
Only by use of pincers was it possible to rid 
these two dogs of the quills and it was a long and 
bloody job." 

The fisher is said to have acquired the difficult 
art of seizing the porcupine by the throat where 
he is least protected, and occasionally some of 
the big cats are driven by hunger to violate their 
best judgment — and pay dearly for it. Pumas 
and lynxes have more than once been killed in a 
half starved condition, and found to have their 
mouths so filled with porcupine quills that they 
were practically unable to eat. In other 
cases the quills once entering the flesh have con- 
tinued to bury themselves deeper with every 
muscular twitch because of the great number 
of their tiny barbs until at last some vital part 
was pierced and the slayer in turn slain by 



COVERINGS 227 

the victim, many days after the original trag- 
edy. 

There is a persistent old tradition that the 
porcupine has the power to shoot his quills, due 
probably to the fact that when he strikes with 
his tail these may become loosened and fall upon 
the ground where active imaginations later find 
and interpret them. 

THE HEDGEHOG'S QUILLS 

While often confused with the porcupine the 
hedgehog is really a very different animal al- 
though protected by spines in a somewhat sim- 
ilar manner. These spines, however, are 
shorter and instead of being loose and barbed, 
to fill the enemies' fle&h like miniature spears, 
are firmly fixed to their owner's skin in a most 
interesting manner. Imagine a good sized pin 
with a rounded head, rather sharply bent near 
the head and stuck or pinned through the skin, 
and you have a fair idea of an individual quill. 
Because of the bend these pointed defenses lie 
naturally backward, but when the hedgehog con- 
tracts the governing muscles they begin to 
bristle, and when he rolls himself into a small, 
prickly ball he is not usually disturbed by other 
creatures. 

Another advantage, also, he has from this 
bristling coat. Quills are both stiff and elas- 
tic, and the hedgehog knowing this does not hes- 



228 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

itate to drop from moderate heights upon the 
ground when rolled into a ball. The quills 
protecting him from injury, he merely unrolls 
and trots away unconcernedly. In this respect 
he is resembled by that curious armored ant- 
eater, the manis or pangolin, whose pointed 
scales, formed by the fusion of fine hairs, are so 
elastic that their owner will sometimes descend 
from a branch by merely allowing himself to fall. 

THE ARMADILLO'S MAIL 

Sometimes you will see in a florist's window 
a peculiar flower basket, which, upon examina- 
tion, proves to be the pathetically empty shell 
of a little armadillo, its head-plate and tail 
being ignominiously joined together into a 




The Armadillo's Coat of Mail 

handle. Although this empty shell is proof 
that man as a hunter will not be denied, one 
cannot fail to be struck with the wonderful com- 
pleteness of this armor against all ordinary 
enemies. The covering is hard, tight, and 
bony, consisting of many small scales fused 



COVERINGS 229 

together and divided into one large buckler 
for the shoulders, another for the hind-quarters, 
and, between these, pliable armored rings run- 
ning around the body. These rings make it 
possible for the armadillo to roll himself into 
a ball as the hedgehog does. At such times, the 
tail, although covered with hard rings, is tucked 
inside, while the head shield closes the front 
and the little creature becomes a slightly flat- 
tened globe too large for the mouth of a hunt- 
ing animal and impervious to teeth. Secure 
in his coat of mail the armadillo will submit to 
being rolled about or even trodden upon, and 
when the baffled enemy has withdrawn he is quite 
uninjured. 

Man, of course, is not to be foiled so easily, 
and having discovered that some of the arma- 
dillos are toothsome, roasts them in their shells, 
thus turning again their protection against 
them. The little fellow is also said to be occa- 
sionally an involuntary post-mortem musician 
in that his shell may be used as the body for a 
kind of crude guitar, while the Botocudo tribe 
of Brazilian Indians make a trumpet from the 
hard-ringed tail of the kabalasson variety. 

THE TOETOISE SHELL 

It seems but a step from the hard-shelled ar- 
madillo to the hard-shelled tortoise while in 
reality it is a step from the mammals to the 



230 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

reptiles — a great distance in zoology. If the 
armadillo with his somewhat flexible covering 
may be compared to a mediaeval knight in suit 
of armor, the tortoise travels about in a combi- 
nation of house and fortress from which he can- 
not be evicted while life lasts. It must be a 
trifle inconvenient at times but there is surely 
comfort in the thought that one can never be 
homeless. 

This house, or shell, consists of a large, 
rounded back-piece called the " carapace " and a 
smaller plate beneath the body known as the 
"plastron" although in some forms these are 
welded firmly together. These make a wonder- 
fully complete protection as every country boy 
knows when their owner withdraws his blunt 
nose, clubby legs and funny little tail and per- 
mits himself to be handled in perfect security. 
He need not be in the least concerned at that 
lack of speed which has gained him a place in 
fable, since the casing is too hard a nut for the 
four-footed hunters to crack and the tortoise is 
therefore known to attain to a venerable age. 
Some of the gigantic specimens from the Gala- 
pagos Islands are supposed to be as much as 400 
years old. 

There are many variations in the shells of the 
tortoise and of the closely related turtles and 
terrapins, one of which, the hawksbill, produces 



COVERINGS 231 

the beautiful tortoise-shell, so highly prized for 
combs and other ornaments. 

THE ALLIGATOK'S HIDE 

With the tortoise tribe as the supreme ex- 
ample of defensive covering among four-footed 
animals, there are many lesser grades and few 
are more familiar than this checkered, knobby 
skin which is in such demand for traveling bags. 
The same qualities of strength and toughness 
giving it commercial use make it still more val- 
uable to its original owner. The alligator is a 
beast of prey which must capture active crea- 
tures and could not be hampered with a shell. 
Indeed it seems almost strange that defensive 
covering should have been provided in his case, 
since great size, terrible jaws, a dangerous tail 
and a savage disposition are all protective. 
"When it is remembered that the alligator be- 
cause of his elevated eyes and nostrils can re- 
main on the lookout when practically submerged 
in water, that even on land he is inconspicuous 
because of his resemblance in shape and color to 
a log, and that in addition to all of these he has 
a flexible coat of leathery armor which has often 
deflected bullets, it will be seen that he is one 
of the most perfectly equipped members of the 
Animal Kingdom. 



232 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



THE SNAKE'S SKIN 



We will take but one more example from 
the once royal and still powerful group of 
Reptiles, and that the one for which human 
beings feel the most instinctive enmity. All of 
the creatures thus far considered have been per- 
manent packages, fitted at the start with cover- 
ings which grew with their growth and out- 
lasted their lives. The snake breaks in upon 
this rule by shedding its outer skin and getting 
a new one at frequent intervals. We might, per- 
haps, consider it the dandy among animals, re- 
quiring many new suits to express its vanity, but 
for its desire to keep out of sight and the fact 
that each new suit is like the old one in appear- 
ance. Why this necessity? Growth has some- 
thing to do with it, but all of these other crea- 
tures grow also, and meet that problem with 
a growing skin. The snake however differs 
from them all in the fact that it has no legs and 
must travel continually upon the surface of its 
skin. Indeed, remarkable to relate, it travels 
to some extent by means of its skin. Upon the 
lower surface are broad overlapping scales, at- 
tached to the strangely movable ribs, and in 
addition to the wriggling method of travel, these 
scales acting in swift succession, raise their over- 
lapping edge to press backward against the 
ground and help the forward motion. The sinu- 



COVERINGS 



233 



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234 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

ous curves are really the very embodiment of 
grace if we could only overcome our dislike 
enough to be fair. All of this may seem to 
have slight connection with the reasons for skin- 
shedding, but the fact is that the snake using 
its skin so actively against hard, uneven, often 
stony surfaces cannot protect it from the wear 
and damage which are unavoidable and with skin 
once injured, it would easily be attacked by in- 
sect pests. Hence it must occasionally go 
through this process of pulling itself out of the 
old, worn casing and wriggling off upon the 
shiny new one which has been forming beneath. 

■ ■ • -,. 

THE TOAD'S SKIN 

Our wrinkled, brown friend of the garden walk 
belongs to a subdivision which includes the 
equally familiar frog and is dependent upon its 
covering to a peculiar degree, for amphibians 
do not drink after the manner of most creatures 
but absorb, through pores in the skin, the mois- 
ture which their bodies require. The skin in 
some species has also glands which give a pro- 
tection quite different from the hard or prickly 
defense of turtle or porcupine. It secretes a 
disagreeably acrid fluid that would tend to make 
the little, squat, helpless fellow an unpalatable 
morsel. In some cases this secretion is even 
poisonous. It is hard for us of the human race 
to realize how large a part of the animal king- 



COVERINGS 235 

dom must always be on its guard against being 
eaten. The ingenious variety of ways in which, 
protection is furnished is an interesting study. 

But there can surely be no other skin-use so 
strange in the whole Animal Kingdom as that of 
the far-famed Surinam toad. This animal is a 
traveling incubator and this is the manner of 
it. When the eggs are laid the male picks them 
up with his clumsy feet and places them upon 
the back of his mate, her skin having become 
abnormally thickened for the occasion. There 
they stick fast, because of a gummy secre- 
tion and gradually become embedded, thus 
forming a series of skin cells which in course 
of time close over with a kind of membrane. 
So passes a period of nearly twelve weeks, 
during which the mother's back is like a piece 
of hopping honeycomb. At last there comes 
a day when three, four or five score of tiny 
toads begin to push here a head and there 
a leg through the retaining membrane, until the 
mother's broad back becomes grotesquely ani- 
mated with a struggling little brood. When 
these have freed themselves the cells begin to 
fill up and once more disappear. 

It may be added in passing that the prickly 
little lizard misnamed the horned toad, does not 
in reality belong to the family. His defense of 
sharp skin protuberances is an effective one al- 
though it does not add to his beauty. 



236 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



THE EAGLE'S FEATHER 



Away back in the Jurassic period, many ages 
before the dawn of history, there lived a strange, 
winged, toothed creature, which has been vari- 
ously considered the earliest known species of 
bird or a transition type between lizard and 
bird. This was the archeopteryx, found em- 
bedded in the lithographic stone of Hungary, 
and thus have come down to us the most ancient 
feathers of which we have a trace. It is inter- 
esting to notice that these feathers are practi- 
cally the same as those of our modern birds. 
In other words Nature had at this early date 
perfected a covering so admirable for her chil- 
dren of the air that in untold centuries since she 
has been unable to make improvement. 

A feather is thus well worth study on its own 
account as also from the fact that it is the one 
characteristic covering of the great division of 
birds. There is no variety of bird which has 
not some form of feather, and there is no animal, 
not a bird, which has any kind of feather. There 
are indeed so many variations of form that a 
whole volume might easily be written upon this 
single subject, but our object is not the pack- 
ing of information into printed pages. We are 
studying the "Why" of things, and when we 
examine an individual bird or pull to pieces an 






COVERINGS 237 

individual feather, our information for the time 
is supposed to go no farther. 

Here then is one of the long, strong wing- 
feathers of the eagle. What does it tell us ? Ob- 
serve first its wonderful lightness. Over a foot 
in length and two inches in breadth it hardly 
flutters a letter-scale. There is no need to in- 
quire the value of lightness to a flying creature. 
Xotice next its construction — a long, hollow cen- 
tral quill, rounded above, flattened below, taper- 
ing to a fine point at the end and bearing a 
web for most of its length. Torn open this quill 
is found to consist of an extremely thin, horny 
material which is yet so strong, because of its 
tubular form, that considerable pressure is re- 
quired to break it. A short distance from the 
base begins the flat part or web of the feather 
and this is seen to consist of filaments which 
grow from either side of the quill, here known 
as the shaft. Each one of these filaments is 
so slender that one wonders at the firmness of 
the web, and here a magnifying glass may well 
be used, for the exquisite workmanship of Na- 
ture is seen in few common objects to such ad- 
vantage as in this feather. Pull apart a portion 
of the web. Xotice how tenaciously the fila- 
ments, or barbs, cling together and then look 
closely at the separated edge where are placed 
the extremely minute barbules, tiny hooks which 



238 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

spring from either side of the barb as does the 
barb from the shaft. The barbules upon one 
side of each barb curve upward, those on the 
other side, downward, so that those up-curved 
in one barb may hook into the down-curved 
ones of the next just as we might hook our two 
hands together. This is the secret of the web's 
firmness combined with flexibility, although it is 
hard to realize that anything so small can prove 
so effective. 

The shape of the web is next noticeable. 
Broader upon one side of the shaft than on the 
other the whole rounds gently from side to side 
and presents a surface of glossy smoothness. 
This curve is but a part of the larger curve of 
the wing and is very similar to that which mod- 
ern experimenters have figured out for the 
planes of their flying-machines, while the smooth- 
ness makes it possible for the feathers to slip 
over each other when folded or unfolded in open- 
ing and closing the wing. The fact that one 
side of the web is somewhat shrunken is an in- 
dication that the feathers overlap like the 
weatherboarding of a house and the lesser side 
is the one concealed. 

Very different from this firm, glossy web is 
a little tuft of downy softness at its base. This 
is the accessory plume, easily overlooked in such 
a wing-quill but more important in the body 



COVERINGS 239 

feathers, and in some birds as large as the web, 

adding much warmth to the covering. 

If the reader be in position to carry his in- 
vestigation beyond the feathers to their owner, 
he will find that in most cases the former do 
not grow in a miscellaneous way but are ar- 
ranged in special and regular groups with naked 
or downy spaces between, although these are 
concealed by the overlapping feathers. A mo- 
ment's reflection will show him that this plan of 
growth is necessary to secure smoothness of 
plumage to such an active creature as a bird. 
And this unbroken smoothness from head to tail 
is highly important to the swift traveler of the 
air. 

In general, although this is the merest glimpse 
at the subject, we may say that the bird, with its 
overlapping shingling of strong, light, glossy 
feathers, unresisting to the air. flexible to motion, 
shedding moisture, imprisoning the heat of the 
body, yet permitting ventilation to the skin. 
varied to fit all needs, from warm, downy under- 
plumage to the strong air-beating quills of flight, 
and finally, when worn with use, easily shed and 
renewed from the mysterious workshop of the 
skin — the bird, so covered, is provided beyond 
the utmost ingenuity of human contrivance. 
How as elsewhere when we use our "Why" in 
a halting effort to understand we can only stand 



240 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

in reverent wonder before the immeasurable 
grasp of Creative power. 

THE OWL ? S PLUMAGE 

We will stop but long enough to note that the 
strong, firm feathers we have just been consid- 
ering are with the owl replaced by a mass of 
downy softness which might make us think this 
bird to be similarly a creature of gentle soft- 
ness. Certain mice and other small creatures 
of the night, however, think otherwise, knowing 
of the sharp talons and beak. Eeasoning from 
analogy is not always safe. 

It is not to be supposed that the owl with such 
feathers is equipped for the strong, swift flight 
of the eagle, nor would this manner of flight be 
fitted to the hours of darkness, when, as he 
wings along close to the ground gazing and 
listening intently to surprise some timid victim, 
he looms suddenly through the shadows, him- 
self a noiseless shadow, and seizes his prey. 
The slightest rustle of stiff feathers would make 
such approach impossible, and we can realize 
that he owes his nightly meal to his fluffy cloak. 

We are not surprised to learn that most owls 
do not migrate. Plumage of this sort is warm 
enough for winter wear and does not lend itself 
well to long journeys. 



COVERINGS 



241 



THE FISH'S SCALE 

There are many other kinds of feathers in- 
cluding those curious ones of the penguin, in 
which the size of the shaft has been so increased 
and that of the vane, or web, so diminished 
that they rather resemble scales. And if this is 
the effect of an aquatic life upon these birds it 
is logical to expect a high development of true 
scales upon most of the members of the race of 
fishes. 

Here is another absolute departure, differ- 
ing from feathers as greatly as they differ from 
hair, differing also from the apparent scales 
of some reptiles which are merely folds of the 




The Slippery Scales of the Fish 



skin instead of distinct horny elements. The 
average fish is clothed with many small, hard 
plates, broadly rounded and overlapping like the 
shingles on a roof. This is not the place to go 
into distinctions of "ctenoid," "cycloid," "plac- 
oid," "ganoid" and "prickly" scales. We are 
amateurs on a large field instead of icthyologists 



242 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

with a lifetime for tlie study of fishes alone, but 
we still may note that they are arranged with 
a beautiful regularity and offer no impediment 
to lithe motion. Perhaps the first point to strike 
us is their slippery smoothness. It is not easy 
to catch a fish unless the fish will help by swal- 
lowing one's hook or entangling himself in one's 
net, and his natural enemies have neither hook 
nor net, hence the value of such hard, slippery 
scales. This elusiveness is increased by the 
slimy mucus of the body which calls our atten- 
tion to the interesting "lateral line" — a line 
easily seen running lengthwise of the body upon 
each side and marked by a series of perforated 
scales which excrete the mucus. Some ob- 
servers believe this to be also some kind of a 
sense organ. 

But escape is not the sole advantage of 
smooth-lying scales. The average fish is built 
for darting through the waters with swift ease 
and needs slippery sides, just as a boat with 
hull fouled with barnacles needs to go into dry- 
dock to be restored to smoothness. Sea waters 
abound in forms of animal and vegetable life 
which attach themselves to every available sur- 
face and if the fish remains unencumbered it is 
because his body does not offer satisfactory hold 
to these growths. 

Scales are hardly to be considered clothing in 
the sense of warmth, like fur or feathers, since 



COVERINGS 243 

they do not imprison air space. Had we time 
to examine the many varieties we would find 
great differences in size and arrangement, from 
the tiny, close-set scales of the trout, to the few, 
large ones upon some of the carp, would find 
practical nakedness among the mud-loving eels 
and catfish, sand-papery shagreen on the sharks, 
bony plates upon the sturgeons, and would in- 
deed soon discover many questions utterly baf- 
fling to our amateur ' i Why. ' ' And yet this need 
not discourage us for the most eminent scien- 
tists must in turn confess their inability to solve 
some of the secrets of even a subject so appar- 
ently simple as the scales of fish. 

THE HUMAN SKIN 

And now we come to the true wrapping of 
the package. Below the fur, spines, shells, 
feathers and scales is the wonderful workshop 
from which they spring — itself a living, self-re- 
newing binding such as was never had by the 
most precious volume. This is the skin. If we 
have failed to speak of its presence in preceding 
instances, it is because the external coverings 
were more conspicuous, but now that we are 
ending our rambling excursion as usual with the 
human family, the skin becomes at once the nat- 
ural subject. Man, being a mammal, has also 
hair — has hair, indeed, upon every portion of his 
body save the palms and soles, and the end 



244 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

joints of the fingers and toes, and yet this is 
so slight in comparison to other animal cover- 
ings that he considers himself a creature of 
naked skin. 

Thereupon, weak in body but crafty in brain, 
he circumvents those other creatures which Na- 
ture had apparently more kindly protected, and 
takes from them fur, feathers, scales, or the very 
hide itself, not to speak of the various products 
of the Vegetable Kingdom, thus making himself 
the most completely clothed of all earth dwellers. 
Thereby he becomes also the most independent 
in respect to climate. No animal traveler would 
think of penetrating the tropics one year and 
joining a polar expedition the next, but to man 
with his range of artificial covering this is per- 
fectly feasible. However, we will leave man's 
hair to the barber's consideration, his clothing 
to that of the tailor and return to our first in- 
terest, his skin, only pausing to state that some 
of the points to be mentioned would apply as 
well to the skins of other animals. 

If you had to wrap up a package for rough 
handling you would wish a strong cover; if the 
package were a lively one — full of active mo- 
tion — the cover would need to be elastic; if it 
were intended for exposure to the weather it 
must also be waterproof. So we might go with 
other requirements which would suggest them- 



COVERINGS 245 

selves and still fall far short of the wonderful 
truth of our own skin covering. 

The skin 1 being at the surface' is liable to 
injury. Were these injuries permanent, a few 
weeks of the accidents of childhood would render 
it unfit for future use. But the red scratches 
quickly disappear and the surface is whole as 
before, for the skin with the ministration of the 
blood is self-renewing. Even where large por- 
tions are destroyed by burns it has proved pos- 
sible to cause small grafts of healthy skin to 
grow into a new surface. Thus it differs from 
all artificial wrappings in that it is a living cov- 
ering. Living, too, in power to enlarge. The 
new born baby is a tiny package which may in- 
crease to fifteen or twenty times its original 
bulk and yet never for a moment will its cov- 
ering fail it. The skin has great power of 
adaptability. Where roughly used it quickly 
thickens into callous spots and those who cus- 
tomarily go barefoot have soles so tough as to be 
almost insensible. A naked savage may walk 
upon sharp rocks or break a thorn with his foot, 
without pain. It becomes accustomed to changes 
in temperature. Darwin tells of the half-naked 
Fuegians in their severe climate and of seeing 
one mother with her babe at her naked breast 
with the snow upon both. Some one asked an 
Indian how he could stand it with so little cloth- 



246 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

ing, and he replied: "Yon got no clothes on 
your face. Indian face all over!" 

Again, at some points, the skin is very thin. 
This is where thick skin would interfere with 
quick movements as in the outsides of the finger 
joints and especially the eyelids. In other 
words the whole covering is varied to suit the 
particular needs of the individual and of his 
various parts. 

It is no part of our purpose to go into a micro- 
scopical study including glands, ducts and 
pores. Most people realize that there is a divi- 
sion into the true and scarf-skin, or the cutis 
and cuticle, or dermis and epidermis if you pre- 
fer the technical terms. These separate readily 
as we see in blisters or in the "peeling" after 
sunburn, and the more important true skin is 
protected by its covering, for this cutis is really 
more important than the average person begins 
to imagine. Besides being the binding of the 
body, it is a workshop in which are created nails, 
hair and all of the external coverings; it is the 
great organ of touch with its inconceivable num- 
bers of nerve ends; it is an organ of excretion 
ridding the system of an immense amount of 
poisonous waste ; is an organ of absorption, and 
even of respiration. 

The old story of the boy who was covered with 
gold leaf in an Italian festival procession and 
soon died in consequence, shows how important 



COVERINGS 247 

are some of these functions. In the single mat- 
ter of excretion the sweat-glands which are so 
active in warm weather are really acting un- 
consciously in every weather and every hour. 
The amount of watery vapor put forth through 
their tiny pores averages something like two 
pounds daily and contains urea, lactates and 
other impurities which are left upon the surface 
as the moisture evaporates. Hence the value of 
baths. Close the pores and the poison must stay 
in the body to work swift harm. 

As to absorption, it exists to a limited extent 
and medicines are sometimes administered by 
being rubbed into the surface. Finally, this 
same marvelous skin helps the lungs in their 
task of purifying the blood, being able to absorb 
oxygen and exude carbonic acid gas although 
both in small quantities. 

This is not to speak of the sebaceous glands 
which secrete wax for the ear passages, the in- 
teresting structure of the hair follicles, the ar- 
rangement of the papillae and many other fas- 
cinating points open to the microscopist of time 
and taste, for our purpose throughout is to de- 
part very little from those things which may be 
seen and grasped by the average, untrained ob- 
server. 



CHAPTER XI 



PKOTECTION 




T is not at all times easy to 
keep subjects from overlap- 
ping. Under this heading of 
Protection might be placed 
those various weapons of 
the month, foot, tail, etc., by 
which animals naturally de- 
fend themselves from attack, 
and also the protective cov- 
erings touched upon in the preceding chapter. 
But as these have been more fully discussed by 
themselves we shall limit this subject to but a 
single phase — that of concealment — and will con- 
sider this mainly in the light of those remarkable 
peculiarities of form or marking which so often 
surprise and delight the observer of animals. 
We must approach this subject with some care. 
"Cock-sureness" is a dangerous attitude in the 
amateur, for not every "Why" will find its easy 
answer. It is not safe to assume that we can 
explain all colors and markings upon a basis 
of protection, for many of them must be charged 

248 



PROTECTION 249 

to sex-distinction and others to still more hidden 
reasons. But having thus cautioned, there still 
remains so great a field that we shall select but 
a few illustrations and let the reader continue at 
his own pleasure. 

For our purpose it matters very little whether 
we charge these peculiarities to deliberate de- 
sign or to the action of light and natural selec- 
tion since the fact remains that such peculiarities 
do serve to protect, and that the animal generally 
acts as though aware of the protection. 

The reader may have noticed that heretofore 
we have with one or two exceptions avoided the 
insect world. Insects, common as they are, are 
generally too small for the study of their parts 
to be possible without the skillful use of a micro- 
scope and we have tried to keep as far as pos- 
sible within the range of the average observer. 
But in this subject we will relax our rule and 
notice a few in their entirety, since these offer 
some of the most remarkable examples. 

THE TIGER'S STRIPES 



One of the really beautiful objects in nature 
is the tiger. Lithe, graceful, with long, sinu- 
jous lines, the very embodiment of alert, con- 
trolled power we cannot but admire, nor can it 
I fail to surprise us at first that he should be so 
(brilliantly marked. The tiger is a creature of 
stealth, not open chase. He must stalk his prey 



250 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

and concealment is needful. Why then has he a 
bright yellow coat, boldly streaked with irregu- 
lar vertical stripes? We should have to go to 
India for our answer. There in his favorite 
haunts are the stretches of tall, dense jungle 
grass through which he roams almost invisible. 
Have you ever noticed the play of bright sun- 
light upon a field of grass or standing grain — 
how instinct the whole color effect is with a kind 
of vibration, or life, very difficult to reproduce 
on canvas ? This is because of the infinite num- 
ber of vertical shadows, continuously shifting 
position and dancing in and out among the "high 
lights" as the blades quiver in the stirring air, 
but hardly analyzed by one who sees the whole 
effect in a single glance. 

Upon a larger scale the bright glare of the 
Indian sun upon the tall, coarse blades of this 
jungle grass is copied in the yellow sunlight of 
the tiger's skin, and their long moving shadows 
reappear so faithfully in his vertical stripes that 
it takes an experienced eye to distinguish his 
figure from its surroundings. Even the tail is 
ringed crosswise to' its length, so that when 
lying upon the ground or extended in a stealthy 
approach the "shadows" still are vertical. 

THE LEOPARD'S SPOTS 

Another savage cat, the leopard, presents a 
striking coat, marked from head to tail with 



PROTECTION 251 

many sharply-defined, dark spots which also 
seem natural enough upon reflection. If the 
tiger's long stripes resemble the shadows of tall 
grass, some other kind of shadow may be indi- 
cated by such spots — and what could these he 
but the mottling shade of leaves ? "We are not 
then surprised to learn that the leopard is logical 
enough to spend much of his time in the 
trees, where stretched upon a limb near some 
animal trail, he may remain unnoticed although 
in sight. 



The young among the deer are also almost 
universally spotted but with many small white 
spots, instead of the dark markings of the 
leopards. In maturity these spots disappear 
save in a few varieties, and some of these such 
as the sikas and swamp-deer of Asia are 
spotted only in Summer time. All of this is 
significant and has a protective value. 

The full-grown deer is famous for its swift- 
ness and what with its horns and sharp hoofs 
is well armed for defense, but the fawn can only 
hide in the brush and lie motionless in the hope 
of escaping notice. In the thicker parts of the 
forest, sunlight reaches the ground only in flecks 
and spots through the leaves while white wild- 
flowers are abundant, so that the fawn, brown 



252 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



like the brown-stemmed bushes and flecked with 
white, may well be passed by. 




iif?/-^ 



The Spotted Coat of the Fawn 

Later, when old enough and strong enough to 
face the danger with his horns or fly from it 



PROTECTION 253 

in a magnificent burst of speed lie does not need 
to depend upon concealment, but even tlien bis 
brown coat is inconspicuous among the tree- 
trunks and bis pronged antlers bear a strong 
resemblance to dead branches. 

THE VAKYIKG HARE 's COAT 

When winter comes on in our northern lati- 
tudes, the landscape undergoes a change. Pro- 
tecting leaves have already fluttered from the 
branches to the ground, there gradually to resolve 
into loam and await the time when, reabsorbed 
by the roots, they shall mount once more to the 
branches in their own slow cycle. Meanwhile 
the forest stands bare and open, with a white 
background of snow. The creatures meet this 
changed condition in various ways. Some for- 
tunate tourists spread their wings and fly away 
to their favorite resorts in the South. Others 
lay on an extra supply of fat in the fall and 
then crawl contentedly into warm holes for a 
winter's sleep. But there are a certain few 
which brave out the cold and snows with the 
kind assistance of Nature who has given them 
a coat for the purpose. Among them is our lit- 
tle friend the varying hare. Eeddish brown 
during the warmer months, he begins to shed 
his summer coat late in the fall when the new 
and warmer winter coat is making its growth. 
This latter is spotlessly white and so the 



254 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



owner while mottled for a little time, becomes 
white by the time snowstorms are due. Thus 
when the background of Nature has changed to 
its winter guise he is as inconspicuous as ever, 
and even a keen-eyed hawk would find him hard 
to distinguish against the snow. With this ex- 
cellent chance to remain uneaten through the 




The Hare in His Winter Coat 

winter Spring finds him commencing again to 
shed his heavier coat and display patches of 
brown through the white, at about the time 
when bare ground and dead leaves begin to show 
brown through the melting snows. Save for ex- 
ceptional seasons it is interesting to note how 
he changes like a little timepiece regulated to 
Nature's great clock of the changing Seasons. 



PROTECTION 255 

His deadly enemy, the ermine, and some of 
the winter birds like the ptarmigan show simi- 
lar change. 

THE ARCTIC HARE 's COAT 

This larger cousin of the varying hare keeps 
to his white the whole year round, and proves 
himself a polar explorer of the best description. 
With wonderful hardiness he is able to resist 
the cold and find a scanty living in lichens, stone- 
worts and the other slight vegetable growths of 
those frozen regions. Where snow is present 
so much of the year he finds it not worth his 
while to change his color, and his fellow-polar- 
citizens, the polar bear and snowy owl, keep like- 
wise to their white, although the arctic fox 
spends some of his twelve months in grayish 
blue or brown. 

THE ANT-EATER'S TAIL 

Down again from the Arctics to the Tropics 
our previous acquaintance, the giant ant-eater, 
has a very different problem from that of blend- 
ing with snow and ice. Living entirely upon the 
ground, too large to be easily hidden and not 
active enough to escape, his advantage comes in 
the possession of a very large brush-like tail of 
long, coarse hair. "With, this he covers himself 
when curling up upon the ground and the passer- 



256 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

by would be merely conscious of such a plausible 
heap of dry grass that it would seem hardly 
worth further examination. 

THE SLOTH'S PROTECTION 

In our Chapter on Feet we had a glimpse at 
this remarkable animal, and certainly if there is 
one inoffensive and indefensive creature in the 
whole Kingdom it is this topsy-turvy one. He 
is ordinarily hidden among dense foliage, with 
too little motion to attract attention, while he 
sleeps, still hanging, but with his feet drawn 
close together and his head placed between his 
forelegs. Thus he loses all animal outline and 
might be taken for the stump of a bough. But 
there is one most interesting provision that helps 
still further. The sloth has hair which is not 
only long and coarse but peculiarly grooved, and 
in these grooves there lodges a small vegetable 
growth, a form of alga, which encrusts the coat 
with a greenish hue. Thus, sleeping throughout 
the day, the sloth is extremely hard ta recognize 
as an animal even though seen. 

THE COLUGO AND KOALA 

Here are two other small creatures which have 
a somewhat similar protection. Seen awake 
they are about as unlike as two creatures could 
be, and neither is related to the sloth, but all 



PROTECTION 257 

three are largely night-moving animals which 
sleep in the trees during daytime. The colugo, 
or cobego, at first sight suggests the bat, with 
its broad membranes until we notice that these 
constitute a gliding, not a flying, device to carry 
it in great leaps from tree to tree where it feeds 
upon the leaves. When ready to sleep it merely 
hooks to a branch with its closely drawn feet, 
tucks in its head and makes no further effort at 
concealment but its shape thus suspended is so 
strongly suggestive of some kind of fruit that 
most observers would be quite deceived. 

The koala, on the other hand, is a quaint little 
marsupial from Australia where he is called the 
native bear. In reality he has no connection 
with the bears but is a chunky, deliberate little 
fellow which browses among tree-tops like the 
other two. In sleeping he does not suspend him- 
self but hugs tightly the supporting branch and 
tucking in his head is at once "in bed." Thus 
seen he is only a rounded moss-like mass, like the 
parasitic tree-growths of his native trees. 

the :ntght- jar's position 

Another night-feeder, a bird this time, is found 
in our familiar night- jar, which skims moths and 
beetles from the air in the hours of darkness and 
then retires for rest and digestion when most 
of the world is astir. Sometimes it hides in 
ground cover but if, as often, it chooses a branch 



258 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

it avoids those of perching size and clings length- 
wise to a thick limb. Here it blends perfectly in 
color, shape and marking with the bark. 

THE BOB-WHITE'S COLOR 

As a general rule the gronnd-living birds can- 
not indulge in the bright colors of many which 
live in the tree-tops where they are more diffi- 
cult to approach. Our sober little bob-whites 
are surely not garbed to attract attention. 
Speaking of them, Mr. Job in his interesting 
" Sport of Bird Study/' says: "Once, in Sep- 
tember, I saw a number of them on a stone wall. 
They flew down as I drove by, into some bushes 
close at hand, and I hitched the horse and went 
after them. Standing on the wall, I studied 
over the ground under the bushes very carefully, 
but could not make out a single bird. But when 
I tossed in a big stone up they all went like rock- 
ets, nearly twenty of them, right from the very 
place I had so carefully examined. 

"How well they are protected by their colors 
I once had a fine chance to see. A single bird 
flushed before the hunting dogs and took to a 
patch of scrub pines. I went in to look for it 
and, as I was standing where the shade was 
dense but the ground clear of undergrowth, I 
happened to see it lying flat on the ground on 
the smooth carpet of pine needles, only two or 
three steps from me. Before I had time to get 



PROTECTION 259 

my camera ready it realized that it was discov- 
ered and flew off." x 

The bob-white with brown or chestnut back 
and sides shading down to buff or white on the 
under parts, is a good example of another inter- 
esting fact in protecting coloration, viz.: that 
those parts upon which the light shines most 
strongly are usually darkest while the body is 
colored lightest where naturally in shadow, thus 
counteracting the darkening effect of such 
shadow. Mr. Abbot H. Thayer in a series of 
experiments with wooden decoys proved this con- 
clusively. These figures, in size and shape like 
a woodcock's body, were placed upon wire up- 
rights standing about 6 inches above the ground. 
One was colored uniformly, above and below like 
the earth. The others were similarly colored 
for the upper half but graded down to pure white 
beneath. When approached from a distance, the 
uniformly-colored decoy could be plainly seen 
from a distance of forty or fifty yards, while 
the others remained completely invisible until 
the observer came within ten yards. 

The confidence of birds and other creatures 
in their own invisibility is striking. Mr. Chap- 
man cites the case of one woodcock which "sat 
tight" and even permitted itself to be stroked 

without leaving the nest, but when a light snow 

i 

i The Sport of Bird Study. Herbert K. Job. Outing Pub- 
lishing Company, Xew York. 



260 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

fell the bird seemed to recognize that it was 
now a dark object against a white background 
and became suspiciously wary. 

THE PHALAKOPE's LIVEKY 

Almost everyone has noted the fact that among 
birds the female is so much more plainly clad 
than the dashing male, whereby it comes that 
those ladies of our superior race who will wear 
bright feathers, must borrow male plumage for 
the purpose. This rule is so general among 
the birds that its reason must be apparent upon 
a moment's thought, viz.: that the hen-bird sit- 
ting patiently upon her nest, would be an easy 
prey for enemies, and would attract them also 
to her eggs, were not her color such as to escape 
notice. The preservation of the species depends 
upon that nest being kept undisturbed while 
there is transpiring within each shell the sacred 
mystery of transformation from "yolk and 
white" to a hungry little birdling. And yet 
Nature's real love of brightness is shown by the 
way in which she often lavishes color upon the 
male. Too active to need protection, with the 
freedom of the wide air for his range he is fitted 
to express to us other aspects of Nature than 
mere prudence and efficiency as he dances from 
our tree-tops, a flash of beauty and a burst of 
song. There is more in Life than living, he 
seems to say. 



PROTECTION 261 

But general rules have oft-times their excep- 
tion, and one such is that of the henpecked lit- 
tle phalarope male, dull-colored and demure, 
staying at home with the housework, i. e., incu- 
bating the eggs, while his wife wears the bright 
plumage, does the wooing and otherwise con- 
ducts herself like a triumphant suffragette. 
Even in this case, however, Nature has preserved 
the principle of protection for the nest. 

There are still other exceptions, wherein both 
sexes are brightly colored, but here the usual cus- 
tom is to build the nest in a hole where it cannot 
be seen. The king-fishers with their nest in the 
bank of some stream are an example. 

THE TERM'S EGGS 

With some birds the eggs lack the conceal- 
ment of nests or holes and hence must be given 
other protection. Such a case is that of the tern 

Eggs of the Teex Among Beach Pebbles 

which deposits its eggs among the sand and peb- 
bles of the beach where they have so much the 
coloring and general appearance of waterworn 





262 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

pebbles, that one must look carefully to make 
them out. 

THE YOUNG KOEL'S LIVERY 

There is an outrageous habit among certain 
members of the cuckoo family of shirking 
parental cares by laying their eggs in the nests of 
other birds. The gullibility of some of these 
other birds seems boundless, and makes one won- 
der whether the bright-looking little creatures 
are nearly as bright as they look. There are 
some cases, however, in which a degree of pro- 
tection appears to be afforded. One of these is 
that of the great spotted cuckoo of Southern 
Europe, which chooses to invade the homes of cer- 
tain crows and magpies. Now crows and mag- 
pies are no fools, as everyone knows, but they 
seem to be poor at figures for the cuckoo does 
not hesitate to leave several eggs among those 
of the rightful owners, which they resemble 
closely, and these are apparently accepted with- 
out question. Later when hatched the small in- 
truders by behaving themselves and not ejecting 
the rightful heirs, as do some kinds of young 
cuckoos seem to earn the right to stay on amica- 
bly with the others. 

But this protection is carried one step farther 
in the case of another number of this interest- 
ing, disreputable family. This is the koel, of 
the Philippine Islands, and it selects the myna's 



PROTECTION 263 

nest for its invasion. The mynas are black and 
their young are also black, hence the " color 
line" is strictly drawn in their homes. Among 
the koels the male is black and the female brown. 
Since it is the common thing among birds for the 
young to wear the color of the female here is an 
obvious difficulty, but it is solved by the young 
koels reversing this rule and appearing black like 
the male, thereby conforming to the tastes of the 
mynas which seem thus willing to accept them. 

THE MOULTING MALLARD 

"While birds offer many illustrations of protect- 
ive coloring we will take but one other feathered 
example since it presents a little variation of the 
subject. The male mallard is a bright, conspic- 
uous fellow, with his dark, glossy head, yellow 
bill, white collar, chestnut breast and grayish- 
white body. His safety lies largely in his strong 
power of flight and he concerns himself very 
slightly with the family cares of his brown little 
mate. But when he moults all of this jaunty self- 
confidence slips from him, for the strong "flight- 
feathers" of his wings are shed simultaneously, 
instead of in the usual, slow succession, and thus 
he becomes helpless. Kind Nature then permits 
him a temporary dull coloring not unlike that 
of his neglected spouse, so that he is at least in- 
conspicuous until the power of flight returns. 



264 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

FROGS AND TOADS 

Among Eeptiles and Amphibians the instances 
are many. The brown log-like body of the alli- 
gator has already been referred to, the gray, 
horned toad of the West is as dusty in hue as 
his desert home and our familiar little hoppers 
reproduce the colors of their surroundings. The 
frog loves a green-edged pool where his color 
blends to perfection. If he choose to hang mo- 
tionless in the water his very observant eyes 
might easily be mistaken for water bubbles, while 
if he come ashore his body is suggestive of a 
moss-covered stone. The little tree-frogs have 
the leafy green of the leaves and are not easy 
to distinguish. More familiar still, our common 
toad, good friend to every gardener by his de- 
struction of the insect pests, is so completely like 
a lump of soil that he is often unseen while in 
plain sight unless he betray his presence by hop- 
ping. This dirt-colored coat not only protects 
him from his enemies, but also causes careless 
prey to venture within tongue-reach. 

In some parts of South America is found a 
large, brightly-marked "horned frog," which 
forms something of an exception to the general 
rule of inconspicuous appearance, but this 
creature has other resources. After the mating 
season he is said to retire to some moist place 
in which he buries himself until his broad back, 



PROTECTION 265 

green like the moss-covered ground, is the only 

part to be seen and here awaits the approach of 
anything edible. 

THE CHANGEABLE CHAMELEOX 

This odd little fellow is the most famous 
"turn-coat" in the whole Kingdom although 
several other lizards have nearly equal powers. 
But the chameleon is so picturesque in so many 
respects that he seems almost an animated joke. 
With his separately rolling eyes, which are skin- 
covered and perforated with tiny openings at 
the apex, his parrot-feet, his prehensile tail, 
his absurdly slow movements, his extraordinary 
tongue, his pompous puffing when enraged and 
lastly his power of changing tints he is inter- 
esting from every point of view. This coloring 
property is popularly over-estimated and many 
people give him credit for instantly matching 
any brilliant background, but as the showman 
said about an elephant walking on his hind legs : 
"The wonder is not that he doesn't do it better, 
but that he can do it at all. ' f 

The chameleon cannot become vermilion or 
turquoise to order, but within a range of certain 
shades of green, blue, yellow and gray, it is truly 
wonderful to see the small body slowly change 
its hue when shifted from one background to 
another. He has also some control over certain 



266 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

spots or markings and altogether is one of the 
quaintest objects in animal study. 

THE FISH'S TINTS 

Protective coloring is widespread among fishes. 
Our most common varieties have a dark back 
and light-colored belly. Looked at from above, 
the back shades into the darkness of the water, 
while an enemy from below would look upward 
toward the light against which the light under- 
color would be less conspicuous. A dead fish, 
however, undergoes internal changes which dis- 
turb its balance so that it floats belly-upward on 
the surface and becomes a noticeable object — 
apt quickly to attract some of Nature's scav- 
engers. Thus the water is kept from pollution. 
The reed-haunting yellow perch has vertical 
stripes. Brilliant-hued fish haunt the bright 
coral formations of tropical seas with their 
gaudy marine growths. Some fish harmonize 
with rocky bottoms, others are of the color of 
mud and sand-tinted flat fish are found resting 
upon the sand. 

Many fish have also something of the chame- 
leon's power of changing color. 

SHAPES AMONG FISHES 

In form as well there is a considerable range 
of concealment. With most forms of fish the 



PROTECTION 267 

chief dependence is upon activity and the shape 
is best adapted to movement, but this is not true 
of all. Flounders, skates and others of the 
broad flat fish are protected by shape as well as 
color, as they lie spread out upon the bottom of 
which they seem a part. Slender, dainty pipe- 
fish and sea-horses twist their tails about a 
stalk and sway in the current like some form of 
sea-growth, and one species, the "fucous-like 
sea-horse," has remarkable leaf -like processes 
or streamers upon its body which bear a won- 
derful resemblance to sea-weed. 

On the other hand, there is that monster 
known as the angler fish, already referred to in 
our chapter on "Mouths," which lies among the 
rocks of the bottom with their coating of marine 
growths and wonderfully reproduces them at 
every point. Squat and rocklike in outline and 
body color, its surface is marked out in irregular 
polygonal areas after the manner of the growth 
of a compound tunicate common to rocks, its 
eyes are close imitations of the rock-barnacle's 
shell, and to complete the deception its body is 
clothed with various filaments which wave in the 
water currents like sea-weed. It is small won- 
der that careless fish, having found food on other 
similar rocks should pause to nibble at the 
tempting vegetation only to disappear into the 
vast mouth which yawns beneath them. 

These are but a few instances. 



268 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

THE CUTTLE-FISH'S CLOUD 

Among the fishes but not of them, and a mol- 
lusk despite its name, the cuttle-fish, that un- 
canny, many-armed creature of the waters, fur- 
nishes food for canaries and a color for artists. 
This sounds truly incongruous and yet we all 
know how the canary appreciates his piece of cut- 
tle-bone from which to pick bits of limey food, 
while sepia is too familiar to need introduction. 
But this latter has a value, not artistic, to the cut- 
tle-fish for its original purpose is to cloud the 
waters. When the creature believes itself in 
danger it has the power to force from a large 
gland called the " ink-bag, " a dense cloud of this 
dark fluid which so obscures the water as to per- 
mit escape. 

This, however, is for more active defense, and 
the cuttle has additional protective coloring and 
power of changes to a very remarkable degree. 
One observer (Matthias Dunn) says: 

"Considering the home and life of these 
creatures, there can be no doubt that in our 
shallow waters, where masses of red, olive and 
green sea-weed abound with their varying 
shades, interspersed here and there with jutting 
rocks and neutral sands, at times when the sun- 
shine is on them they must present vistas of 
harmonious and unique beauty. And further, 
outside the laminarian zone, or the range of the 



PROTECTION 269 

sea-weeds, amid the many varieties of the sea- 
bottom, where the hoary, rocky pinnacles pierce 
up through the blue seas, where patches of gray 
sand lie here and there in contrast to these loom- 
ing heights and stretching shadows, and where 
all is toned and softened by the sun throwing 
its dim light on countless millions of red Gor- 
gonia, creamy Alcyonidse and white bivalves, 
in the sometime quiet of this oceanic sylvan 
wilderness, there must be a dreamy condition of 
stillness and color almost impossible elsewhere. 

1 'In regions like these the elodene (cuttle) 
lives. To match and blend with all these grada- 
tions of tints and hues, when wandering through 
these vales of beauty, so as to be prepared for 
the worst and to evade their piratical and 
plunderous enemies, these cuttles have at will a 
great variety of vanishing and fleeting colors, 
many of which I have seen displayed. Among 
them I have noticed a bright mahogany on the 
back with a whitish blue on the chest; also red- 
dish streaks running down the back and sides, 
fitted in with bluish gray, the latter color cov- 
ering the under part of the mouth ; also a choco- 
late red on the back with a green chest and sur- 
roundings ; then a French gray color on the back 
mottled with a creamy white throughout. 

"I have seen, too, a mottled skin of salmon 
color and gray with flashes of spotted green, the 
green showing brightest on the web between the 



270 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



arms. Another color has been a heliotrope on 
the back, with peacock blue mixed with salmon 
below, and these were all made to move and 
shade into each other as freely and gently as the 
blushes on a lady's face; while at other times 
they could be so suddenly mixed and fused to- 
gether as to be beyond any description of mine." 

THE WALKING-STICK 

Crabs, shell-fish, spiders and a great variety 
of other forms of life are frequently protect- 
ively colored or shaped but it is in the great 
world of Insects, systematically neglected in our 




The Walking- Stick 



other Chapters, that the most remarkable exam- 
ples of all are met with and of these we can 
glance at very few. 

There is always a feeling of surprise, al- 
most of incredulity, when looking through dead 
twigs and other small ground litter, to see one 



PROTECTION 271 

of the smallest and deadest-looking of all march 
off with angular movements. Had it not moved 
we might have looked at it steadily without sus- 
pecting that it was really an insect, and very 
much alive at that. The walking-stick is liter- 
ally in appearance, what its name suggests and, 
while common enough, is one of the truest curi- 
osities in Nature's Museum. 

THE LEAF-WINGED INSECT 

The dust-colored locust in the country road, 
invisible until it spreads its wings in alarm, the 
green grass-hopper in the grass, the fairy 
katydid upon a leaf, the bright-winged butter- 
flies among the blossoms, the various brown and 
gray trunk insects upon the trees, these are all 
familiar examples. There is one common 
though generally unnoticed little leaf-hopper, 
the echinopa binotata which bears such a horn- 
like projection upon its head as almost exactly 
to resemble a thorn when squatting closely 
against a stem; some caterpillars assume stick- 
like attitudes, and many other instances might 
be cited; but perhaps most curious of all is an 
Oriental butterfly which gives a wonderful imita- 
tion of a leaf. Its folded wings have precisely 
the curving, pointed outline of a leaf, they are 
marked by a dark central line like the midrib 
and branching from this are the appearances of 
the leaf's side veining. When the butterfly is 



272 



ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 



at rest this insect-leaf stands at exactly the 
proper angle to the branch and practically de- 
fies detection, for the head and antennae are 
hidden from view. Most wonderful of all the 
coloring is that of a dead and not a living leaf- 
one in process of decay. These butterflies vary 
considerably in their markings as would such 










The Leaf- Winged Butterfly 

leaves and show different combinations of 
browns, grays, with blotches of apparent mil- 
dew, the powdery black spots of tiny fungus or 
even holes, and they never alight save among 
dead leaves. In flight, however, they are en- 
tirely different creatures, since the upper sur- 
faces of their unfolded wings are rich with 
orange and blue. 



PROTECTION 273 

The walking-leaf insect of the East Indies is 
only less remarkable and resembles a living, 
green leaf most faithfully. 

INSECT MIMICEY 

In bringing this subject to a close there is one 
entirely different phase which must not be over- 
looked. This is the way in which some insects 
imitate, not their surroundings but other insects. 
In fact this principle is not unknown among 
snakes and even birds. In speaking thus we are 
not implying conscious mimicry nor discussing 
the processes of natural selection which may 
have perfected them, but merely in terms of con- 
venience of the effects themselves. 

It has come to pass that certain insects are 
protected from their natural hunters by disa- 
greeable characteristics, and it is furthermore 
found that in many cases there are other insects 
without these characteristics, which reproduce 
the former so closely in appearance as also to 
be free from attack. 

One of the most wonderful cases of this kind 
is that of the heliconidaB and the leptalides. 
The first-named are showy, slow-flying butter- 
flies which could be easily captured by many of 
the butterfly-eating birds and yet are not mo- 
lested. This is probably due to a strongly pun- 
gent, yellowish fluid which fills their body, and 
seems highly nauseous to birds. Therefore, 



274 ANIMAL SECRETS TOLD 

the3 r have learned to let them severely alone. 
In the same South American forests are found 
the second-named butterflies, the leptalides, hav- 
ing none of this peculiarity and therefore pre- 
sumably acceptable dainties to a bird palate, but 
the resemblance to the heliconidae is so great 
that birds are rarely willing to take the chance. 
"Give them a wide berth — do not meddle with 
anything even resembling the disgusting crea- 
tures/' seems to be the tradition of the forests, 
and the happy, inoffensive leptalis is thus a 
strange beneficiary. 

In a similar way some of the wasps, bees and 
beetles have their imitators, and a large cater- 
pillar bears a close resemblance to a certain 
small but poisonous snake. 

Perhaps there is no more fitting point at which 
to leave the subject of "Whys" than with the 
thought of " Protection.' ' Vistas for the exer- 
cise of wholesome curiosity open up in so many 
directions that the foregoing Chapters must be 
considered as the merest introduction. But the 
inviting field of Nature lies before us, rich with 
information, teeming with reasons and welcom- 
ing the investigator to a close and delightful in- 
timacy. 

THE END 

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